Electoral Administration Bill

May I explain the basis on which I seek to participate in this debate? The Electoral Commission was created as a free-standing body after 2000, but a means had to be found to control its strategic plans and budget. The Speaker’s Committee was therefore instituted, and the commission is accountable to the House of Commons through an hon. Member—me—who answers written questions on the Electoral Commission. I answered one yesterday from the hon. Member for Vale of Clwyd (Chris Ruane) and, if he requires it, I am happy to provide him with clarification later. I also answer oral questions in the House once a month, and I try to be neutral and objective. I once said that I am merely a drone target against which colleagues can assay their shafts of wit and wisdom. I do not comment in the media on Electoral Commission issues because, given my efforts to be neutral and objective, it is not appropriate to do so. However, as the Bill will change fundamentally the Electoral Commission’s structure and operational methods I thought it appropriate to seek neutrally to express its views on the measure. The Electoral Commission welcomes the Bill, 80 per cent. of which derives from its proposals. Similarly, 80 per cent. of the commission’s recommendations were accepted by the Government and are included in the Bill. The Electoral Commission welcomes the provisions to allow independent observers at elections and referendums for the first time; to reduce the minimum age of candidacy at all elections from 21 to 18; to enable people to register after an election has been called, up to 11 days before polling day; to enable electoral registration officers and returning officers actively to encourage participation in elections and referendums; to improve assistance for disabled voters and voters whose first language is not English; and to improve the nomination process with measures that include the standardisation of deposits and the lowering of the forfeiture threshold from 5 to 2 per cent. It welcomes provisions to reintroduce descriptions of independent candidates; to reduce the administrative burdens on political parties, candidates and others; to provide stronger deterrents against electoral fraud by introducing two new electoral offences; to increase the length of time available for the police to carry out investigations into electoral fraud; and to introduce performance standards for local authority electoral services. The Electoral Commission broadly welcomes the Bill, for which it has been pressing, but there is pressure on the legislative process, as the Under-Secretary of State for Scotland will know better than anyone else in the House. He will agree that we must get the Bill right. It is the first national legislation to be introduced on the subject in five years, and there was a gap of 15 years separating the 2000 legislation from the preceding legislation. It is therefore likely that this is the last chance that we will have before the next general election to get electoral legislation correct. The Minister of State spoke about fraud when she introduced the Bill. While the total amount of fraud is small, it has a disproportionate effect on people’s trust and confidence in the system. The Electoral Commission’s study of participation in the 2005 general election shows that for the first time more people rated the postal voting system as unsafe than safe, and were worried about incorrect registration and votes going astray. There is considerable concern about houses in multiple occupation, as residents are not all registered by the head of household—a dated concept in the 21st century. Who is the head of household in an HMO? The Electoral Commission believes that the system to register voters by the head of household is out of date and should be replaced with a full system of individual registration. Since 2003, it has consistently recommended replacing the current system of household registration with a system in which individuals register themselves to vote, providing personal identifiers at the same time. It believes that the household registration system is open to abuse and error. Individual registration would help to encourage a sense of personal involvement in the democratic process, and it would produce a more accurate electoral register while improving the security of the system, allowing people to participate with confidence. In particular, a system of full individual registration would mean that at all stages of postal voting checks would be made against the personal identifiers on the register for each elector to ensure that only individuals who are entitled to do so can cast a vote by post. The commission has a two-fold difficulty with the Government’s proposal to pilot the use of personal identifiers. First, outside the pilot areas, postal voting will still be available without an adequate system of security checks. Secondly, a proposal to pilot falls short of a commitment to implement the core recommendation for full individual registration throughout Great Britain, which the commission believes is right in principle as well as urgently needed to counter the risk of postal vote fraud. The Electoral Commission was created to advise on electoral matters, and I am pleased to have had the opportunity to put its advice on the parliamentary record.