UK Parliament / Open data

Political Parties and Elections Bill

Debate on bills and Committee proceeding on Wednesday, 13 May 2009, in the House of Lords.
Type
Parliamentary proceeding
Reference
710 c387-454GC 
Session
2008-09
Department
Ministry of Justice
Legislative stage
Committee stage
Procedure
New clauses
Chamber / Committee
House of Lords Grand Committee
Proceeding contributions
Lord Tyler | 710 c426-7GC (Link to this contribution) That immediately takes me to the next point that the Electoral Commission raised. It is not clear wh...
Lord Tyler | 710 c427GC (Link to this contribution) It is entirely a matter for the candidate whether to explain what their particular job or interest i...

Show all contributions (114)
Lord Neill of Bladen | 710 c407GC (Link to this contribution) How does the noble Lord’s plan deal with death? You have a rolling register to which people add thei...
Baroness Gould of Potternewton | 710 c400-1GC (Link to this contribution) I am distressed to say that I cannot accept a word of what my noble friend said. He knows how much I...
Lord Campbell-Savours | 710 c394-5GC (Link to this contribution) But we do know that there have been no prosecutions in the county of Cumbria and that there are larg...
Lord Campbell-Savours | 710 c392-3GC (Link to this contribution) I am not altogether convinced that we will see an increase in registration as a result of this legis...
Lord Bach | 710 c452GC (Link to this contribution) Amendments 134 and 135 134: Schedule 5, page 59, line 9, leave out "forms, in" and insert "forms— (...
Lord Greaves | 710 c432-3GC (Link to this contribution) Talking about old postal ballots takes me back to our lengthy debates in this room on the European P...
Lord Bach | 710 c433GC (Link to this contribution) I can help the noble Lord on that. As I understand it, regional returning officers for the regions o...
Lord Greaves | 710 c434-5GC (Link to this contribution) That is even better news. I cannot imagine that people in some of the more hard-headed parts of Lanc...
Lord Bach | 710 c436GC (Link to this contribution) I will be able to give some help about regulations in a moment. Regulations made under the Electoral...
Lord Bach | 710 c436-8GC (Link to this contribution) I am grateful to the noble Lord. I will take that idea back, if I may. Amendment 131 amends provisi...
Lord Campbell-Savours | 710 c447GC (Link to this contribution) We have 25 minutes left to complete this stage of the Bill. All I can say is that I completely suppo...
Lord Bach | 710 c421-4GC (Link to this contribution) Amendments 125D and 125E 125D: After Clause 21, insert the following new Clause— "Obligatory provis...
Lord Campbell-Savours | 710 c424GC (Link to this contribution) Amendment 127 127: After Clause 23, insert the following new Clause— "Registration of interests by ...
Lord Tyler | 710 c429GC (Link to this contribution) The noble Lord, Lord Campbell-Savours, has just given the game away. Clearly, you only get the job o...
Lord Hamilton of Epsom | 710 c427GC (Link to this contribution) I support the noble Lord, Lord Tyler, on this issue. There is certainly a big reputational problem w...
Lord Henley | 710 c430-1GC (Link to this contribution) I shall speak also to Amendments 129, 131 and 132. I will not be moving Amendment 132AB, which is in...
Lord Tyler | 710 c431GC (Link to this contribution) We have examined carefully the proposals put forward by the noble Lord, Lord Henley, and listened ca...
Lord Tyler | 710 c451-2GC (Link to this contribution) I certainly shall not repeat all the arguments that we had about Clause 17. However, I want to take ...
Lord Bach | 710 c451GC (Link to this contribution) These are minor consequential government amendments required to give effect to Clause 17, which was ...
Lord Bates | 710 c447GC (Link to this contribution) The noble Lord has rehearsed a number of the arguments that were raised in relation to the previous ...
Lord Bach | 710 c451GC (Link to this contribution) Schedule 5: Minor and consequential amendments Amendment 133 133: Schedule 5, page 59, line 2, at ...
Lord Campbell-Savours | 710 c410GC (Link to this contribution) The actual fall after the legislation was 119,000. All that I have ever argued is that it is wrong t...
Lord Greaves | 710 c404-7GC (Link to this contribution) I heard what the noble Lord said and I hear what he says now, and I understand the point, although I...
Lord Greaves | 710 c412-3GC (Link to this contribution) As the Minister knows, I am not arguing for the Campbell-Savours scheme of trying out the system in ...
Lord Bach | 710 c413-5GC (Link to this contribution) That is a very generous offer, which we shall have to consider. I must move on. In any event, the G...
Lord Campbell-Savours | 710 c404GC (Link to this contribution) Could I give the noble Lord the exact quote, because it is quite important that it is on the record?...
Baroness Gould of Potternewton | 710 c402-3GC (Link to this contribution) If my noble friend will have a little patience, I shall deal with that. The reason is partly because...
Lord Campbell-Savours | 710 c402GC (Link to this contribution) My noble friend says that it is discriminatory. But if a local authority itself has a problem and ap...
Baroness Gould of Potternewton | 710 c402GC (Link to this contribution) The identification of some areas as areas where fraud has occurred would do that. But fraud does not...
Lord Henley | 710 c388GC (Link to this contribution) Of course I am not suggesting that. I am suggesting simply that within the minds of certain people w...
Lord Campbell-Savours | 710 c389GC (Link to this contribution) I am glad that the noble Lord is on his feet, because I want to ask him a question. He mentioned ele...
Lord Henley | 710 c387-8GC (Link to this contribution) I start by expressing my thanks to the Minister for moving his amendment at some length; we are grat...
Lord Campbell-Savours | 710 c388GC (Link to this contribution) What does the noble Lord mean by that phrase, "for their own electoral reasons"?
Lord Henley | 710 c388GC (Link to this contribution) I am not ducking the question; I am just putting it forward as a supposition to the Committee that t...
Lord Campbell-Savours | 710 c388GC (Link to this contribution) Perhaps I could be more blunt. Is the noble Lord suggesting that the Labour Party would be electoral...
Lord Hamilton of Epsom | 710 c393GC (Link to this contribution) Does the noble Lord also accept that in areas such as Kensington, Chelsea and Westminster there are ...
Lord Henley | 710 c389-90GC (Link to this contribution) I am not aware of any electoral fraud in postal voting in the county of Cumbria. I am aware, from cr...
Baroness Gould of Potternewton | 710 c392GC (Link to this contribution) Yes, it is a big issue. I thought we were talking about electoral registration, and it is a big issu...
Lord Greaves | 710 c433-4GC (Link to this contribution) I am grateful for the Minister’s reply, but my understanding is that the districts in Lancashire tha...
Lord Bach | 710 c434GC (Link to this contribution) I can go one stage further and tell the noble Lord that we provided the money so that the software s...
Lord Bach | 710 c435GC (Link to this contribution) Noble Lords will wish to ensure that at elections, returning officers are required to check the pers...
Lord Tyler | 710 c435-6GC (Link to this contribution) I recognise that there is a dilemma here, but putting on the face of the Bill that there should be a...
Lord Greaves | 710 c436GC (Link to this contribution) It would help if the regulations for the announcement of spoilt ballot papers were changed. At the m...
Lord Bates | 710 c442GC (Link to this contribution) I am grateful for the support that the amendment has received from the noble Lord, Lord Rennard. The...
Lord Bates | 710 c439-40GC (Link to this contribution) This amendment, which is in the form of a new clause, deals with an important issue: the enfranchise...
Lord Greaves | 710 c443-6GC (Link to this contribution) This is a distinctly Back-Bench amendment. I will be interested to know what my Front-Bench colleagu...
Lord Bach | 710 c418-9GC (Link to this contribution) Amendment 125B 125B: After Clause 21, insert the following new Clause— "Regulations amending or sup...
Lord Bach | 710 c431GC (Link to this contribution) I do not want to interrupt the noble Lord because I want to shorten this process, if I can, but what...
Lord Bach | 710 c452-4GC (Link to this contribution) Schedule 6: Repeals Amendments 135A to 140B 135A: Schedule 6, page 62, line 4, leave out "In secti...
Lord Bach | 710 c454GC (Link to this contribution) Clause 29: Commencement Amendment 141A 141A: Clause 29, page 23, line 30, at end insert— "( ) sect...
Lord Greaves | 710 c449-50GC (Link to this contribution) I will in a minute. Whether or not the Government keep this matter under review, I shall keep harass...
Lord Rennard | 710 c447-8GC (Link to this contribution) I am sorry if I slightly disappoint my noble friend by saying simply that the problem with his amend...
Lord Bach | 710 c448-9GC (Link to this contribution) The amendment seeks to amend provisions in the 2000 Act concerning absent voting in Great Britain in...
Lord Brooke of Sutton Mandeville | 710 c408-10GC (Link to this contribution) I apologise for having arrived late. One of the hazards of the date of Grand Committee sittings chan...
Lord Greaves | 710 c407-8GC (Link to this contribution) This is exactly what happens at the moment. If someone dies and the local electoral registration sta...
Lord Brooke of Sutton Mandeville | 710 c410GC (Link to this contribution) I had sat down. This argument could go on all night, and I have no intention of prolonging it. Howev...
Lord Campbell-Savours | 710 c407GC (Link to this contribution) On that matter, no one has given us those assurances. The official Opposition have not said that the...
Lord Greaves | 710 c413GC (Link to this contribution) On the same question, I merely wish to make the Minister an offer: if the opportunity arose, I belie...
Lord Bach | 710 c413GC (Link to this contribution) I do not think that they would. What would happen when the first local authority requested the Secre...
Lord Hamilton of Epsom | 710 c399GC (Link to this contribution) I am afraid that the noble Lord, Lord Campbell-Savours, has failed to convince me on this subject. I...
Lord Campbell-Savours | 710 c395-6GC (Link to this contribution) The problem essentially, as the noble Lord, Lord Henley, said, is fraud in the postal vote system. W...
Baroness Gould of Potternewton | 710 c395GC (Link to this contribution) I am a little confused. Perhaps the noble Lord could explain the problem for me. We are talking abou...
Lord Greaves | 710 c396GC (Link to this contribution) The noble Lord will know that I agree entirely with his description of what goes on in many places. ...
Lord Henley | 710 c394GC (Link to this contribution) I speak purely as a lawyer: I cannot say categorically that there is no problem if I do not know whe...
Lord Greaves | 710 c404GC (Link to this contribution) Follow that, really. In speaking to this group of amendments, I specifically support the amendments ...
Lord Neill of Bladen | 710 c403GC (Link to this contribution) Perhaps the noble Baroness will allow me to intervene on the point about annual registration. I beli...
Lord Hamilton of Epsom | 710 c401GC (Link to this contribution) Would it not also have the result of saying to a certain community that it was considered to be more...
Baroness Gould of Potternewton | 710 c389GC (Link to this contribution) I hesitate to intervene on this, but it worries me that such an accusation has been made, and my nob...
Lord Campbell-Savours | 710 c388GC (Link to this contribution) But the noble Lord has suggested it. He has made an accusation that we wish to defer the measure for...
Baroness Gould of Potternewton | 710 c392GC (Link to this contribution) I feel that I must interrupt, because my noble friend Lord Campbell-Savours made the point that this...
Lord Tyler | 710 c431-2GC (Link to this contribution) I was referring to paragraph 8 of Schedule 4 to the Representation of the People Act 2000, where the...
Lord Henley | 710 c438-9GC (Link to this contribution) Perhaps I may deal with the amendments in the order in which they appear. I am grateful that I had a...
Lord Bates | 710 c439GC (Link to this contribution) Amendment 130 130: After Clause 23, insert the following new Clause— "Service declaration (1) Secti...
Lord Bach | 710 c440-2GC (Link to this contribution) The new clause makes amendments to Section 15 of the 1983 Act. Subsection (2) of the new clause woul...
Lord Rennard | 710 c440GC (Link to this contribution) We clearly agree in principle with this amendment. The arguments were well put by the noble Lord, Lo...
Lord Greaves | 710 c443GC (Link to this contribution) Amendment 132A 132A: After Clause 23, insert the following new Clause— "Absent voting (1) Schedule ...
Lord Bach | 710 c415-8GC (Link to this contribution) Of course, I shall write to my noble friend with the answer to the first question, but for an ERO to...
Lord Bach | 710 c419-21GC (Link to this contribution) Amendment 125C 125C: After Clause 21, insert the following new Clause— "Report by Electoral Commiss...
Lord Campbell-Savours | 710 c427GC (Link to this contribution) I cannot understand why the noble Lord wants to publish a Member’s address but not their source of e...
Lord Campbell-Savours | 710 c424-5GC (Link to this contribution) I shall speak briefly to the amendment. I would like to think that it will get the support of the Co...
Lord Tyler | 710 c425-6GC (Link to this contribution) Perhaps it would be appropriate to say a word about the context. I have some sympathy with what the ...
Lord Campbell-Savours | 710 c426GC (Link to this contribution) Perhaps I could answer that, although I have not seen the Electoral Commission’s brief on any of the...
Lord Campbell-Savours | 710 c429GC (Link to this contribution) I have listened to the protests of those who object to this amendment not in principle but to the de...
Lord Bach | 710 c427-9GC (Link to this contribution) My noble friend is seeking to increase the information available to electors about candidates’ pecun...
Lord Campbell-Savours | 710 c429GC (Link to this contribution) I am surprised that the noble Lord is so vigorous in his objections. "Any pecuniary interest" may we...
Lord Henley | 710 c430GC (Link to this contribution) Amendment 128 128: After Clause 23, insert the following new Clause— "Absent voting: personal ident...
Lord Bach | 710 c452GC (Link to this contribution) Yes, it was a bit of a chance—the noble Lord is right—but I hope that I have just about got away wit...
Lord Bates | 710 c452GC (Link to this contribution) I associate myself with the sentiments of the noble Lord, Lord Tyler, towards the Minister, the nobl...
Lord Bach | 710 c387GC (Link to this contribution) Debate on Amendment 125A resumed. Before we adjourned last Wednesday, I moved Amendment 125A and s...
Viscount Ullswater | 710 c387GC (Link to this contribution) If there is a Division in the Chamber while we are sitting, the Committee will adjourn as soon as th...
Lord Greaves | 710 c407GC (Link to this contribution) This is the extent to which I agree with the noble Lord, Lord Campbell-Savours, and thank him for ra...
Lord Campbell-Savours | 710 c410GC (Link to this contribution) I know that the noble Lord is not doing that, but others have. Something else came out when I looked...
Lord Campbell-Savours | 710 c413GC (Link to this contribution) Does that not completely misunderstand the nature of the debate that is going on in these communitie...
Lord Campbell-Savours | 710 c415GC (Link to this contribution) I do not expect my noble friend to answer directly now my two questions. Is it true that EROs are pa...
Lord Bach | 710 c412GC (Link to this contribution) I suspect that, first, the area that was chosen would feel—I use this word carefully—discriminated a...
Lord Campbell-Savours | 710 c412GC (Link to this contribution) My noble friend said that confusion might be caused. Would that be because some people might find th...
Lord Bach | 710 c410-2GC (Link to this contribution) We have had a substantial debate, quite rightly, on the major new clauses that we are proposing here...
Lord Campbell-Savours | 710 c396-9GC (Link to this contribution) I think that the noble Lord has a case. However, if an electoral registration officer within the loc...
Lord Campbell-Savours | 710 c393-4GC (Link to this contribution) I am glad the noble Lord has raised that valid point because it draws further attention to the inval...
Lord Hamilton of Epsom | 710 c393GC (Link to this contribution) I started my canvassing career in north Kensington, which at the time was a marginal Labour seat, an...
Baroness Gould of Potternewton | 710 c403-4GC (Link to this contribution) Absolutely; I could not agree more with the noble Lord. That is why we have not introduced a system ...
Lord Campbell-Savours | 710 c402GC (Link to this contribution) My noble friend says that the report is out of date. Perhaps I can give her the latest figures, whic...
Baroness Gould of Potternewton | 710 c402GC (Link to this contribution) I disagree, because a local authority has a right to go to the Secretary of State within the context...
Lord Henley | 710 c389GC (Link to this contribution) As I have made clear to the noble Lord, Lord Campbell-Savours—and if the noble Baroness looks at my ...
Lord Henley | 710 c388GC (Link to this contribution) Well, I would not like to go much further than the particular words that I used. I shall leave it to...
Lord Rennard | 710 c390-1GC (Link to this contribution) I welcome, of course, the thrust of the government amendment to introduce personal identifiers, on t...
Lord Campbell-Savours | 710 c391-2GC (Link to this contribution) I might delay the Committee a little today because I want to speak in some detail on this issue, whi...
Lord Henley | 710 c392GC (Link to this contribution) I only know about one part of one county—a very large county. I do not know for a fact whether there...
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