Electoral Administration Bill

I will not give way on this issue. [Hon. Members: ““Give way!””] I will not give way because I want to extend an olive branch to the hon. Gentleman in relation to the service voters whom he mentioned. That theme emerged time and again. I do not have time to go into the details, but Members in all parts of the House feel that we still have not got it right in terms of registration and postal votes for service personnel. I give the hon. Gentleman an undertaking that we will work with the Ministry of Defence, the Electoral Commission and Members in all parties to get it right. It is too important not to get right, and we will get it right. I thank the hon. Gentleman for raising it. My hon. Friends the Member for Edmonton (Mr. Love) and for Cardiff, North (Julie Morgan) mentioned what they described as catastrophic under-registration. That lies at the heart of what we are trying to do in the Bill. We are not tolerant of the fact that 3.5 million people are not on the electoral register. We will give electoral registration officers a duty to reduce that figure and to take whatever steps are necessary. There were many other contributions, but unfortunately I do not have time to deal with them in depth. The hon. Member for Belfast, East (Mr. Robinson) asked two specific questions—about late registration in Northern Ireland and about political party donations. I have been assured that the Northern Ireland Office is actively considering both issues and is organising a consultation in which he may wish to participate. There was no agreement on the case for reducing the voting age from 18 to 16, but my right hon. and learned Friend the Minister of State rightly said that she would keep the issue under review. I thank all Members for their contributions to a thoughtful and thorough debate and I commend the Bill to the House.