Electoral Administration Bill

The rise of Democratic Unionist party was irresistible and, no matter what the voting system or the electoral law, the party would, like the cream, have come to the top. A significant number of people who were previously on the electoral register were removed from it at the time of the new registration and the personal identifiers. The bulk of those who were removed should not have been on the electoral register; they had registered more than once. As has been said, when subsequent registrations took place, there was a further significant fall in the number of people registered. I do not blame that on the 2002 Act, except for the requirement for an annual return of the registration form. The Government properly took steps to change that. I believe that that will steady the numbers on the register. It is one thing to fill out a detailed electoral registration form to include, for example, a national insurance number. Some of the anxieties that have been expressed in the Chamber about the introduction of the national insurance number as an identifier are unfounded. That has not been a problem in Northern Ireland and it has assisted in reducing fraud. I accept colleagues’ value judgment about whether they believe that the problem is so great that they need to introduce that personal identifier, but I believe that most people can be expected to cope with its introduction and that of the signature, the date of birth and other elements on the form every three or four years. However, the number of people who register will decrease if they are expected to do it every year, especially in years when they do not expect an election. In Northern Ireland, one can never be sure whether an election will come along, and people can easily get caught out. But if the register could be improved by better work being done at the Electoral Office, that could offset some of the losses that undoubtedly occur if we make it more difficult for people to register by increasing the amount of work that they have to do. The Bill also contains a proposal to move the deadline for registration closer to the date of an election. I note, however, that Northern Ireland would be exempt from that measure. Can we have an explanation as to why that should be so?