Local Democracy, Economic Development and Construction Bill [Lords]

The hon. Gentleman is making some important points, many of which I agree with—except for the one about proportional representation, on which he is quite wrong. I lived in India during a general election period some years ago, and I was impressed by the many steps taken there to increase turnout. They are very low tech and would be achievable in this country; they include keeping the polls open for many days, moving security around from place to place and taking a more flexible approach to the opening of polling stations. One of the main contributors to people not voting these days is that we always vote on a Thursday. People come home from work and are too tired, they flop in front of "Britain's Got Talent" and they never get around to voting. If we could make it easier we might increase turnout without any clever fixes.