Electoral Administration Bill

I agree with the hon. Gentleman up to a point. Of course our debates on the earlier legislation highlighted the lack of rigour on the Government’s part in ensuring that our voting system maintained the integrity for which we hoped. I disagree with him, however, about the reasoned amendment. A reasoned amendment simply is not the right way in which to deal with omissions in a Bill of which we approve in all other respects. I still hope that the hon. Gentleman will reconsider, because we undoubtedly need to re-establish, as far as possible, consensus—in the House and beyond—on what we should do to make our voting system better. That is urgent. The hon. Member for Livingston mentioned the appalling—I use the word advisedly—turnout in a key parliamentary by-election. In such circumstances there should not be such a low turnout, but we know that it is replicated in both parliamentary and local elections throughout the country time and again. That puts our democratic system at risk. I am not being alarmist or apocalyptic. We need a process of democratic renewal across a wide front, including parliamentary as well as electoral reform. We must make a start. The Minister of State said that she wanted to listen to what Members had to say, and—rightly—that it was for the elected House to deal with a Bill concerned with elections in the proper way. That is, I must say, a marked improvement on the Government’s performance during the passage of the European Parliamentary and Local Elections (Pilots) Act 2004, which set a new nadir for Government conduct in such circumstances. Measures were forced through in the face of opposition not just from every other party represented in the House but from the Electoral Commission, which had been appointed as an independent voice to advise the Government. I hope that those days are over, and that the Government now intend to proceed much more constructively. We should also recognise that there is, understandably, a tension between the integrity of the register and the wish for as many voters as possible to be included in it. We demand three things from a voting system. We want the register to be as comprehensive as possible, we want as many as possible of those registered to vote to be encouraged to exercise their right, and we want those who are not entitled to vote—or those who wish to abuse their vote—to be deterred effectively from doing so. I do not think it is possible to deal with one of those requirements without dealing with the others. We need to establish a balance. That is why I welcome the work done not just by the Electoral Commission, to which I give credit, but by bodies such as the Electoral Reform Society and also my right hon. Friend the Member for Berwick-upon-Tweed (Mr. Beith), Chairman of the Constitutional Affairs Committee, who has temporarily left the Chamber. I hope that we can reduce fraud and increase registration and turnout without any part of the equation being detrimental to any other part.