Representation of the People (England and Wales) and the Representation of the People (Combination of Polls) (England and Wales) (Amendment) Regulations 2007

I am glad to follow the positive remarks of the noble Lord and I thank my noble friend the Minister for his concise statement. Of course, he carries no responsibility for the areas that are being debated, but he took a positive line in his exposition. Paragraph 7.3 of the Explanatory Memorandum states that, "““there is a lack of a clear sanction to withhold the ballot paper should an elector refuse to sign””." Tackling that issue was a central objective of the legislation. Has my noble friend an explanation of how the Government brought forth such defective legislation? Do Ministers know who was responsible for the mistake—for the misjudgment? Was it one person? Was it several members of a legislative team? Should the 2006 Act have been subject to greater and more effective professional scrutiny? Was that the defect in the consideration of all these matters? Do we know the outcome? Have there been any consequences? Is parliamentary draftsmanship in decline? Surely not—yet, as my noble friend said, there was a crucial drafting error and the system did not cope with it. When was the Welsh Assembly’s First Minister informed of the defect? When did the Assembly know that it was not what they thought it was going to be? The Electoral Commission was the dog that barked. It did its duty, and its scrutiny was effective. But how did lawyers and draftsmen manage to bring forth such defective legislation? Has there been an inquest? Do we know how it happened? Who was responsible? I am not asking to be told who the people were, but does the system know? Have Ministers looked at it to ensure that that sort of thing does not happen again?