Electoral Administration Bill

The Scottish National party and Plaid Cymru offer a qualified welcome to this important Bill, which is a modest but useful step towards democratic renewal. My hon. Friends and I will not support the reasoned amendment, if it comes to a vote. In Wales, there is a wealth of propositions on how to extend democracy. Some hon. Members will be familiar with the National Assembly for Wales White Paper, which, I hope, we will discuss later this year. At the last general election, turnout in Wales was slightly higher—a percentage point or two—than in England, which was certainly the case in my constituency, but that does not mean that we should become complacent about the problems that our electoral system faces. As I have said, the SNP and Plaid Cymru welcome the Bill. In particular, we welcome the establishment of the co-ordinated on-line register of electors and clause 20, which will reduce the minimum age for standing for Parliament from 21 to 18. We also welcome the reduction in the threshold for losing a deposit from 5 per cent. to 2 per cent. That will not benefit my party hugely, and it will certainly not benefit the SNP, about which the research paper mentions a sum of £4,000. However, the political scene in Scotland and Wales includes a number of small but entirely legitimate political parties, which add to the variety of our democracy. They should be encouraged and, although they should not be encouraged enough to deprive any hon. Members of their seats, they should not be discouraged by a high threshold. I draw hon. Members’ attention to the interesting figures on lost deposits in the research paper. The figures include the British National party, which I vehemently oppose, but the parties that lost most were the Greens, which lost £65,500, and the UK Independence party, which lost £151,000. [Hon. Members: ““Hear, hear.””] I hope that my party has largely replaced the Greens in Wales, and we have opposed UKIP vehemently, but such financial losses are a disincentive for those legitimate parties. For that reason, we welcome the reduction in the threshold. Clause 63 is designed to encourage participation in elections. We welcome it, and it will probably form part of the Welsh legislation that I referred to earlier. Clause 19 states that each community council in Wales will be a separate polling district, which is an important point. Particularly in rural areas of Wales, community councils form the architecture of people’s understanding of electoral districts. In my constituency, we had 83 booths at the last election, and I am glad to say that I managed to visit them all on the day. Community councils are important because they are coherent to the local community and provide a local point of contact. As I have said, I welcome the fact that clause 19 states that each community council area will be a separate polling district. Some hon. Members may think that my next point is of minor importance, but it has a specific Welsh interest and is certainly not minor in Wales. The hon. Member for Birmingham, Sparkbrook and Small Heath (Mr. Godsiff) has already mentioned the naming and description of parties, and clause 23 allows party titles in Wales to include up to six words of Welsh and six words of English.