Electoral Administration Bill

My Lords, not only do I carry the responsibility, I totally accept it, as the noble Lord, Lord Brooke, would expect. I also accept that this and previous Governments have expected a huge amount from our armed services. They have risen to all the challenges they have been given and I pay tribute to them. Lastly, I accept the sentiments expressed by the noble Lord, Lord Garden, arising from his own experiences, and those so passionately expressed by the noble Baroness, Lady Hanham. I heard her interview on the radio this morning and I pay tribute to her comments. We are all searching for a way through this and I accept the principles also set out by the noble Lords, Lord Ramsbotham and Lord Astor of Hever: it is important to ensure that our service personnel, wherever they are, are registered to vote and thus able to exercise their right to do so. There is not a tissue between the noble Baroness, Lady Hanham, and the noble Lord, Lord Garden, as there is not a tissue between noble Lords and myself on this. However, it is for me to find a solution. Perhaps I may deal with some of the figures cited today. I want to correct the noble Baroness, Lady Hanham, on the figure of 120,000 only because it is important to make the point. While the figure is right, the reason for the fall is that the 2000 Act enabled people to register without making a service declaration. That is why the figure has dropped quite considerably. I hasten to add that I do not seek in any way to diminish the problem, but it is important to know precisely where figures such as this come from. The noble Baroness, Lady Hanham, spoke with passion on Amendment No. 15, but she will recall that the arrangements are the result of the recommendations of the Howarth all-party working group. It concluded that the old system had resulted in low registration rates and led to service personnel becoming disassociated from the constituencies in which they were registered, which in effect reduced the likelihood that they would vote. The group further pointed out that electoral registration officers faced problems in identifying and communicating with service personnel; that it led to inaccuracies in the electoral register; increased the likelihood of electoral fraud and unjustifiably inflated the register in those areas. In Committee I pointed out that in Westminster, for example, 90 per cent of service personnel who registered decided to do so as ordinary electors, because if they register as service declarants, they do not enjoy the benefits of ordinary electors, such as receiving credit or obtaining a car parking space, which in parts of London is very important, particularly for those with families. I am not inclined, whatever we decide, to go back to that. The Howarth group, which was all-party, said decisively where the problems were. I completely understand that the noble Baroness would say, ““That is fine and dandy, but what you have now will not do””. I accept that, but I do not want to go backwards. I want to find a way through. Noble Lords are absolutely right to say very firmly, but with characteristic grace, that we have been talking about this for far too long. Here we are, on Report in your Lordships’ House, and I do not have the ability to fulfil the requirements. I withdrew the government amendment that the noble Baroness referred to because I want to put a proposition to your Lordships’ House. I hesitate to do so, because I have already proposed this once to the noble Baroness, Lady Hanham, and she quite rightly said, ““Well, that is all fine and dandy, but I am going to vote in any event””. I will try my luck again, because the situation is a little different. We have a new Secretary of State for Defence. He has asked me to come and meet him. I have a date to see him in my diary for next Tuesday. He is away this week, on his duties, and therefore could not see me. He has indicated that he would like to see me. I will put on record the particular form of words for what I said I would do. We remain concerned that service personnel are not being registered to vote. I have recently raised this issue with the new Secretary of State for Defence. He is committed to exploring this. I am going to meet him to discuss the issue further after today’s debate, with a view to coming back to the House on Third Reading with a workable solution, which will address the concerns of noble Lords. I know that noble Lords quite rightly feel that we are late in the day for achieving this. I have to do this in the spirit of enabling my right honourable friend, the new Secretary of State for Defence, to consider this issue again. He has indicated that he is fully willing to do so with me. I want to enable him to fulfil that commitment to me. I need to bring forward a workable package of amendments. The noble Baroness described the amendment that I withdrew as ““feeble”” or something similar. I take her point, because on its own it goes only a little way and by no means does anything very constructive. However, if I can I would like to bring it back as part of a package, because everyone accepts that that is what we should do.