Electoral Administration Bill

I am sure that my hon. Friend would qualify in that respect. We have national insurance numbers, and the hon. Member for Belfast, East gave us some wise advice about their use. They would give us a degree of certainty, although I agree with hon. Members who said that we cannot talk about registration without trying to find people to register. In this day and age, it is ridiculous to have the head of a household signing the register for other household members. We know that the further a person gets away from the family, the less likely it is that he or she will register to vote. That strikes me as wholly unsatisfactory, and one reason why there is such low registration in houses of multiple occupation. We have seen how easy it has been for various people to register in false names. The Daily Mail, The Sunday Telegraph, Evening Standard and Sky News have reported on that, but it is not being done to get a vote. The reason might be to appear on a register for credit purposes. We know from some work that was undertaken by The Mail on Sunday that at the last general election there were reports of asylum seekers falsely signing up to obtain consumer credit. A middle-class scam is taking place in many constituencies. Children fly the nest and move on to prosperous jobs. They may move to London. They may move to a part of the city, and not necessarily the most salubrious address. At the same time, mum and dad keep them on the register at home. They do not do that for a sentimental attachment, thinking that one day the children may return. They are on the register for credit ratings and for insurance purposes, to ensure that the children get a better deal. That sort of scam needs to be sorted out. That can be done only by a process of individual registration. Is there an element of overreaction? There is a suggestion in the White Paper that ballot papers needed to be bar coded. Surely that is pointless. After all, a bar code is only a number. It would add practically nothing to the security of the process. My electoral registration officer points out that that would effectively mean that a limited number of printing companies would be able to produce a ballot paper. We know that there were problems arising from the various pilot schemes. My ERO sensibly suggests that the bar code should be printed on the declaration. It is possible to do that with the software that most EROs have. That simple idea is more practical in offering real security than moving to something that will cause many problems. I lend my support to the suggestion that problems will stem from clause 29. It is absurd that anyone could work out exactly when a general election could take place. The change in the 2001 election from May to June, because of the foot and mouth outbreak, is a clear example. I thought that the last set of elections were at least honest. If political parties are daft enough to spend money before an election period, that is up to them. Spending will not be avoided. It will merely be put underground. Perhaps we have an unrealistic expectation of what is possible. We need to understand that our EROs bring in a bunch of people at election time. EROs understand the situation but sometimes the workers do not. That means that there is a high hurdle. We need to simplify and justify the law. We need to ensure that we place our trust in the electoral system.