Government shelves Co-ordinated Online Record of Electors database to save £11m

The government has shelved plans to create a database of electoral information, in a move estimated to save £11m.

The Co-ordinated Online Record of Electors (CORE) was legislated for in 2006 by the Electoral Administration Act, and intended to make it easier for political parties to verify the legitimacy of their donors. However, the legislation will now be repealed.

The database, which would have been administered by a new independent public body, would have cost an estimated £11.4m to build and £2.7m per annum to run, said the Cabinet Office.

Mark Harper, minister for political and constitutional reform, said the costs of building and running the database are disproportionate to its benefits.

"Continuing with plans to create CORE would be at odds with the government's commitment to rolling back the state and ensuring we are always getting value for money for the taxpayer. It is therefore right that CORE should be abandoned," Mark Harper said.

The government will work with the Electoral Commission and others to consider other less costly ways to improve the provision of electoral registration information, said the Cabinet Office.