Parliamentary Voting System and Constituencies Bill

My Lords, the amendment seeks to insert into Clause 8(1) a third condition before the Minister must make an order. There are currently two conditions in the Bill: first, that there has been a yes vote in the referendum; and, secondly, in Clause 8(1)(b) that, "““the draft of an Order in Council laid before Parliament under subsection (5A) of section 3 of the Parliamentary Constituencies Act 1986 (substituted by section 10(6) below) has been submitted to Her Majesty in Council under section 4 of that Act””." Without going into detail, that means that the constituency boundaries have been substantially redrawn in accordance with Part 2 of the Bill. Our proposal seeks to ensure that, before there is any change in the voting system and any substantial redrawing of the boundaries, proper work is done to ensure that the electoral register is up to date. If that work is not done, you will end up with boundaries being in the wrong place. The electoral quota for the boundary review will be based on the date on which the review begins, according to the new rule in paragraph 9(2) of the new Schedule 2 to the 1986 Act. On page 11 of the Bill, new paragraph 9(2), which is a new rule introduced by the Bill, states: "““The ‘electorate’ of the United Kingdom, or of a part of the United Kingdom or a constituency, is the total number of persons whose names appear on the relevant version of a register of parliamentary electors in respect of addresses in the United Kingdom, or in that part or that constituency. For this purpose the relevant version of a register is the version that is required by virtue of subsection (1) of section 13 of the Representation of the People Act 1983 to be published no later than the review date, or would be so required but for … any power””." I do not think I need to read sub-paragraph (b). New paragraph 9(5) states: "““The ‘review date’, in relation to a report under section 3(1) of this Act that a Boundary Commission is required (by section 3(2)) to submit before a particular date, is two years and ten months before that date””." The effect of all those provisions is that the quota is to be calculated on the basis of the electoral register on the date when the review begins. That plainly would not ““take into account”” underregistration in many areas of the UK. It is no good for the Government to say that they are interested in fair votes if the effect of what they are doing is to ignore the people who should be on the register but are not. The level of underregistration has been of concern to all involved in elections for some time. The redistribution of seats is dependent on the number of electors who are registered and does not take account of those missing from the register. Therefore, it is important to obtain as accurate an electorate as possible. The Boundary Commissions currently have only very limited powers to take other considerations into account, such as population projections, and the Bill requires them to use the registered electorate as the basis for Rule 2 calculations. That again is in new Schedule 2, which states: "““The electorate of any constituency shall be … no less than 95% of the United Kingdom electoral quota, and … no more than 105% of that quota””." There is therefore scope to be 5 per cent above or 5 per cent below in working out how the electoral quota applies in a particular constituency. The Electoral Commission published in September 2005 a report entitled, Understanding Electoral Registration: the Extent and Nature of Non-registration in Britain. The commission said that it had carried out, "““the first systematic and comprehensive analysis of registration rates in Britain since 1993””." and that the report contained, "““a detailed analysis of the reasons for non-registration””." The commission drew on a statistical register check carried out on its behalf by the Office for National Statistics. The report states: "““According to ONS, the best estimate for non-registration among the eligible household population in England and Wales at 15 October 2000 (the qualifying date for the February 2001 register) lies between 8% and 9%. This compares with 7–9% in 1991. This means that in the region of 3.5 million people across England and Wales were eligible to be on the register at their main residence but were missing from it in 2000””." In the commission’s first analysis of the performance of EROs in 2009, it noted the limited data available on the rates and number of people registering to vote and commissioned new research on the state of the electoral registers in Great Britain. The Completeness and Accuracy of Electoral Registers in Great Britain was published in March 2010. Its key findings were as follows: "““The completeness of Great Britain’s electoral registers remains broadly similar to the levels achieved in comparative countries. However, national datasets and local case study research suggest there may be widening local and regional variations in registration levels. While there is no straightforward relationship between population density and the state of local registers, the lowest rates of completeness and accuracy were found in the two most densely populated case study areas, with the most mobile populations (Glasgow city and Lambeth). Recent social, economic and political changes appear to have resulted in a declining motivation to register to vote among specific social groups. This is despite the fact that electors now have more options than ever open to them to register. We made it as easy as it was possible to make for people to register. The annual canvass continues, on the whole to be an effective way to update the registration details of electors; but rolling registration, a tool introduced to maintain the register, has not prevented the completeness and accuracy of the registers declining between annual canvass periods. Under-registration and inaccuracy are closely associated with the social groups most likely to move home. Across the seven case study areas in phase two (therefore excluding Knowsley), under-registration is notably higher than average among 17–24 year olds (56% not registered), private sector tenants (49%) and black and minority ethnic (BME) British residents (31%). Each revised electoral register lasts for 12 months, from December to December; during that period, the ""rate of completeness is likely to decline by around 10 percentage points, owing mainly to population movement (although the rate of decline will be higher in inner London boroughs). The research did not uncover electoral fraud in the case study areas. This may indicate that where instances of registration fraud or malpractice do occur they are likely to be relatively rare local incidents (although it may be difficult to determine instances of intentional over-registration using a survey approach). The research successfully tested new techniques which could help identify some forms of fraud. There is clearly scope to introduce measures locally which would improve the completeness and accuracy of specific registers. However, there are limits to what can be achieved nationally using the current registration system””." That is a summary of the Electoral Commission’s conclusions. According to data compiled by the Office of National Statistics and the House of Lords Library, for example, 24,000 voters are missing from the electoral register in Sheffield Central. In Portsmouth South, 20,000 eligible voters are missing, making a registration rate of 78 per cent. In Wimbledon, the figure is 80 per cent. That does not mean that 80 per cent are missing; it means that only 80 per cent of the people in Wimbledon who could vote are registered. That is 16,000 missing voters. In Colchester—I take these by way of example—missing voters stand at 14,500. The honourable Member for Hemsworth, Jon Trickett MP, the Labour Party spokesman on social exclusion, has commented: "““It is young people, ethnic minorities, people living in private rented accommodation and those living in deprived areas which will be disproportionately affected by these changes””." What he said completely reflects the detailed conclusions of the Electoral Commission report, The Completeness and Accuracy of Electoral Registers in Great Britain. If the Government plough ahead with their plans without addressing the state of the register, they will, in effect, be shutting the door on millions of eligible voters. I go back to the point that any suggestion about fairness should include fairness not just for those on the electoral register but for those who are not on the electoral register. When the previous Government were in power, we set the wheels in motion for increasing the number of eligible voters on the electoral register. We facilitated the introduction of individual voter registration but at a pace that sought to avoid the negative consequences of this when it was rolled out in Northern Ireland. The Deputy Prime Minister, Nicholas Clegg, to his credit, has openly acknowledged that there is a problem with the state of the register.