Electoral Administration Bill

My hon. Friend makes a number of points about other data that are available that ought to inform the electoral registration officer whether someone should have the right to vote. As I have said, under the Bill councils will have a duty to check their own data to ensure that their register is complete. Beyond that, we will no doubt consider such things further to find out whether the measures that we have already taken are enough, or whether we need to follow my hon. Friend’s suggestion and take further steps. On the question of fraud, every person in this country—no matter what ward or constituency they live in, and no matter what their ethnic background is—is entitled to be sure that they can cast their vote and that the votes will be fairly counted. No one’s vote should be stolen and no result should be perverted by fraud—that is a basic right for all. To protect that individual right and to ensure that the public are confident that that is the case, we have a comprehensive plan for electoral security that will tackle the concerns that were graphically identified in Richard Mawrey’s judgment on the Birmingham fraud cases. The measures include primary legislation, such as many measures in the Bill; secondary legislation, which I shall bring forward shortly; performance standards to ensure that there is best practice; and extra resources for electoral registration officers. People have a choice about how to vote in this country. Whether they choose to use the ballot box or postal votes, which my right hon. Friend the Member for Edinburgh, East (Dr. Strang) mentioned, they should be confident that the system is secure.