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

I have two quick questions, but the Minister may be relieved to know that they have both been asked by my noble friend Lady Hanham and the noble Lord, Lord Jones. Before I put them, I shall pick up on the point made by the noble Lord, Lord Rennard, on personation; it may not be as widespread as some think it to be, but the problem has always been that we do not have the means of actually knowing. Electoral registration officers have said, ““We do not think there’s a problem””, but they have no definitive way of knowing. I reinforce what my noble friend has said. The Merits of Statutory Instruments Committee has drawn this specially to the attention of the House. It says at the end of its commentary that the consequence of this error is that: "““An important measure to combat electoral fraud will not now be available for the May 2007 elections, and the Government's policy objective of reducing the amount of such fraud may, consequently, be imperfectly achieved””." That encapsulates the point, and it is damning about how we have got into this situation. As I say, the questions I was going to ask have been asked. One was that raised by the noble Lord, Lord Jones: how did we get into this situation? I mention in passing the fact that the Government are their own worst enemy. Had they accepted some of the amendments made in Committee, we would have avoided this by going for somewhat more stringent provisions than those the Government pursued. My second point was simply that raised by my noble friend: when can we expect primary legislation? The Government state that they plan to clarify the primary legislation at the earliest opportunity to bring in a clearer requirement for signatures in polling stations. We need to know just how early that opportunity is, because the situation we are in now requires urgent rectification.