Fair and effective local democracy depends on having certainty over who can stand and vote in local elections.
Government should make a commitment, now, that all EU citizens legally resident in the UK should retain their rights to stand as candidates and vote in council elections after Brexit.
An urgent commitment is needed because political parties and independent candidates are already making preparations to campaign in the May 2019 local elections.
Note that this petition is silent about EU residents’ rights to remain in the UK. (That matter, unhelpfully, is still unresolved at the time of writing.)
This petition assures political rights to those EU citizens who are granted, or retain, legal rights to reside in UK. The criteria for those residency rights is a separate matter.