Electoral Administration Bill

I am grateful to the Minister for her nod of assent. Secondly, we need a careful examination of what action the Government took after they were warned in 2004, before the general election. Thirdly, we need the Government’s proposals on how to ensure that such things never happen again. The third requirement can be met only if we have accurate information on the first and second. Finding a solution will not be complicated. All that the Government need do—certainly for the next election, while they consider longer-term reform—is restore the old service voter registration scheme. That would do the job in one jump. Incidentally, I also alerted the Electoral Commission to those problems in 2004, and I regret to say that it was also breathtaking in the complacency of its response. After a number of inconclusive exchanges with Sam Younger, its chairman, requesting that he take action, he finally sent me a letter on 6 December, and I shall just read a small section of that extraordinary reply, where he said:"““We will certainly look at the possibility of producing a leaflet aimed at service personnel when we plan for the next canvass to be held in late 2005””—" after the likely date of the general election. The Electoral Commission and the Government are full of grand schemes and noble projects, many of them costly, to improve voter registration and participation. I really wonder whether we would not now do better just to stick to basics. For example, let us ensure that 250,000 service personnel get the vote at the next election. Let us take fewer risks with postal voting. We have made quite a mess of it in the last few years; we now need to avoid further mistakes that could further erode the credibility of our electoral system. We have had more than three quarters of a century of electoral registration with a full franchise, and we have not done so badly. A note of caution is required now.