Electoral Administration Bill

I pay tribute to my hon. Friend the Member for Livingston (Mr. Devine), who achieved a good balance between a moving maiden speech and a very funny maiden speech. I welcome the Bill. It is a good measure that achieves the right balance between widening the participation and securing the vote. Before the Bill was published, I felt that there was a danger of over-emphasis being placed on securing the vote. I am pleased that that is not the case. Newspapers were full of articles about postal ballot fraud and Ministers were questioned at the Dispatch Box on the issue of electoral fraud. Of course, electoral fraud, including postal ballot fraud, is a serious issue, but we must have regard to the statistics. I tabled a written question, No. 10802, on 14 July. I asked the Minister how many successful prosecutions there had been for postal ballot fraud, at parliamentary and local government level, over recent years. I was told that there had been none at parliamentary level and about one or two a year for local government elections. Surely the greater evil is to have 3 million to 4 million missing or unregistered electors—figures revealed by the Electoral Commission in September. I welcome the commission’s research. If I have any criticism of it, it is that the research was not conducted three or four years ago when many Members, certainly on the Government Benches, were raising concerns about under-registration. Had that research taken place at that time, perhaps the newspapers would have been full of what I say is a greater injustice—3 million to 4 million missing electors.