Electoral Administration Bill

I am not sure whether I accept that so many people are on the register who should not be, although there is undoubtedly significant double counting. The issue involves not only putting people on the register, but ensuring that the register accurately reflects the people who have the right to vote in a particular election. Nevertheless, I take the point, which is important. In a modern context, registration should involve more than someone knocking on the door. The registration process should involve tapping into all the available information, because we do not make use of the available information from utilities and the postal service. Local authorities have enormous amounts of information, such as council tax records, that could be useful in ensuring that the register is accurate. We do not need to concentrate on registering everyone. Many people return the form annually, which gives no difficulty in the compilation of an accurate register. However, research shows that groups such as young people, people who live in council accommodation, the unemployed and people from black and ethnic minority groups are vastly underrepresented, and we should focus our resources on them. At the end of the day, the objective is to ensure that everyone can cast their democratic vote, which is surely what we are all about. If we can clean up the register in the process and make it more accurate, that would be welcome. I welcome the Government’s rejection of the Lords amendment and hope that this House will support them.