Electoral Administration Bill

My Lords, our debates on this issue have revolved around the issues of principle and timing. I am particularly grateful that the Government have confirmed recently and repeatedly that they accept the principle behind individual voter registration. Indeed, only last week, the Minister in the other place, Bridget Prentice, said:"““On Lords amendment No. 8, we have said previously that we accept the principle behind individual registration””.—[Official Report, Commons, 13/6/06; col. 661.]" So it is simply a matter of timing. Two opposition parties and the independent Electoral Commission think that now is the right time to introduce the measure. The Government clearly think that the best time is some time in future, when Members of another place may feel reassured that they will not lose many supporters from the electoral rolls as a result of such a measure. However, everyone else thinks that we need to deal with the potential for electoral fraud, especially in the postal vote system, as soon as practically possible. We need to deal with the sort of problems to which the noble Baroness, Lady Hanham, just referred, which arose during the recent local elections. There is no value in checking someone’s signature at a polling station if you do not have their signature on the voting register in the first place. It will reflect badly on Parliament if we do not do all that we reasonably can to deal with such problems before the next general election. Many sensible and fair political commentators, such as Peter Riddell writing in the Times last week, urge that we have a duty to act in this matter. With hindsight, we made a mistake in the Political Parties, Elections and Referendums Act 2000 to allow postal voting on demand without proper safeguards when the system was so considerably expanded. The sooner we properly rectify that mistake, the better. In this Bill, with agreement, we have worked together to build in some measures to improve the security of postal voting. Those measures are welcome and worthwhile, but they do not go as far as they should. It would be better to get those things right now than to have many allegations of electoral fraud at the next general election—either in the postal voting system or at the polling station—clouding results or the outcome and bringing politicians generally into a lower level of regard than would otherwise be the case. Now is the time to act: before the general election.