Electoral Administration Bill

I commend that policeman. The way to resolve the problem is by not allowing campaigning within a certain proximity to polling stations. I do not see why the Government have not taken the issue on board and included such a measure in the Bill. It seems obvious that people want to be able to go and vote without pressure and in peace. We need to stop people congregating at the entrance to polling stations, and stop cars and loudspeaker vans being parked outside or close by and playing continuous messages all day. Not only is there no need for that, but they are there for only one purpose—to try and influence or put pressure on the people going in. I do not understand why, in a Bill that is commendable overall, the Government are not prepared to bite the bullet and ban campaigning, handing out leaflets, playing messages on loudspeakers or indulging in other electoral activities within 100 or 150 yd of a polling station. If that were the case, the police would know what their position was and they would be able to take action. At present, they do not know and cannot act. I hope the Minister who responds later and his colleagues will reconsider the Bill. The problems that I have described might apply only to certain parts of the country—not his, perhaps, but certainly to my city and to the constituencies of other right hon. and hon. Members. There is one present, my hon. Friend the Member for Luton, North (Kelvin Hopkins), to whose city I can well imagine it applies. It is essential that the matter be dealt with now. If not, it will come back to haunt the Government. Next time we have a debate on electoral integrity, Birmingham may well come up again. I very much hope it will not, but if it does, I suspect that will be in the context of what has happened at a polling station in Birmingham where just the sort of practices that I have outlined tonight have, sadly, occurred.