Electoral Administration Bill

My Lords, I had not intended to intervene, but as I have been named a couple of times in whatever capacity, I thought that I might. I just want to reflect on those last comments, which might be taken to imply that in some way, unless an amendment is made today, postal voting will remain at issue. The great thing is that postal voting has been clarified. There will be no fraud in postal voting because of the steps that have already been taken. That is an important basis on which to go forward, because it is there and there alone that the Electoral Commission has, quite correctly, identified problems that need to be dealt with. As has been said, there are potential problems. However, once we have seen the effect of the introduction of individual registration for postal voting and all the other things on which my noble friend has commented in the Bill, it will be possible to assess the best way to move forward across the piece. My proposal has never been to stop individual registration; it has always been to introduce it on a sensible basis which electoral registration officers and everyone else can comfortably manage. We have dealt with postal voting; the Bill deals with that. On a proper timescale, we will get where we want to be, but I very much doubt that rushing it at this stage is wise or sensible.