UK Parliament / Open data

Individual Voter Registration

Opposition day on Monday, 16 January 2012, in the House of Commons, led by Sadiq Khan. The answering member was Mark Harper.
Unallotted opposition day debate (part one). Main question negatived on division (234 to 321).
Type
Parliamentary proceeding
Reference
538 c475-535 
Session
2010-12
Department
Cabinet Office
Chamber / Committee
House of Commons chamber
Related items
Individual electoral registration and electoral administration. Political and Constitutional Reform Select Committee tenth report, with formal minutes and written evidence. (Vote)
Thursday, 27 October 2011
Parliamentary committees
House of Commons
Proceeding contributions
Speaker | 538 c493 (Link to this contribution) Order. Just before the Minister responds, may I very gently remind him—I am sure he is bearing this ...
Speaker | 538 c512 (Link to this contribution) Order. I am going to reduce the time limit to six minutes in an attempt to get everybody into this p...

Show all contributions (117)
Mark Harper | 538 c493-4 (Link to this contribution) I think, Madam Deputy Speaker, that is your rather clever way of telling me not to take so many inte...
Chris Ruane | 538 c494 (Link to this contribution) The Electoral Commission has said that the current proposals would be the biggest changes in registr...
Speaker | 538 c494 (Link to this contribution) Order. Before we continue the debate, I point out to all hon. Members that the time limit now in ope...
Jonathan Edwards | 538 c492 (Link to this contribution) For people like me who are unaware of events in Northern Ireland, will the Minister inform the House...
Mark Harper | 538 c491-2 (Link to this contribution) The reason for the carry-forward was to ensure that people who had been registered to vote but had n...
Bob Stewart | 538 c493 (Link to this contribution) As the head of a household almost filled with very young people, it seems to me that the key to gett...
Mark Harper | 538 c492-3 (Link to this contribution) What the research has showed about the drop in the register in Northern Ireland is interesting. Some...
Mark Harper | 538 c490-1 (Link to this contribution) My hon. Friend makes a good point, and there was a certain amount of fraud in the early 2000s. That ...
Siobhain McDonagh | 538 c498 (Link to this contribution) Is the hon. Gentleman aware that people from Commonwealth countries do not need to be UK citizens to...
David Evennett | 538 c498 (Link to this contribution) My hon. Friend makes a strong point. We have experienced that in my constituency as well; it is anot...
Nick de Bois | 538 c497 (Link to this contribution) Is my hon. Friend surprised to learn that in a random sample of 80 of our constituency cases involvi...
David Evennett | 538 c496-7 (Link to this contribution) I welcome the opportunity to contribute to this important debate and I also welcome the aim of Membe...
Chris Ruane | 538 c496 (Link to this contribution) The freeze date for the next Boundary Commission review is December 2015. There will be a carry-over...
Nicholas Dakin | 538 c496 (Link to this contribution) How does my hon. Friend see the changes impacting on future boundaries?
Chris Ruane | 538 c494-6 (Link to this contribution) No, I will not. The previous Administration operated in a consensual, co-operative, non-partisan wa...
Chris Ruane | 538 c494 (Link to this contribution) I have got the message, and I understand it: the message is about political gain. The Minister is ri...
Mark Harper | 538 c494 (Link to this contribution) The hon. Gentleman hasn't got the message.
Bob Stewart | 538 c486 (Link to this contribution) My hon. Friend has half-answered my question. Why are we not making the system as effective as possi...
Mark Harper | 538 c486 (Link to this contribution) No, it is not. If the hon. Gentleman will listen, we have introduced proposals having learned from t...
Chris Ruane | 538 c487 (Link to this contribution) The evidence that I gave earlier from Rhyl in my constituency was that in the poorest ward in the wh...
Mark Harper | 538 c486 (Link to this contribution) We are retaining the offence of not responding to the household form. The logic is that if someone d...
Nia Griffith | 538 c487 (Link to this contribution) I implore the Minister to look again at this. Clearly, if failing to send back the annual survey is ...
Mark Harper | 538 c487 (Link to this contribution) I am grateful that the hon. Gentleman raised that. He made exactly that point at Deputy Prime Minist...
Julian Lewis | 538 c485 (Link to this contribution) In general, I am happy with my hon. Friend's proposals, but the one thing in the Opposition motion t...
Mark Harper | 538 c485 (Link to this contribution) I agree with the right hon. Gentleman's conclusion, which is that we should try to maximise the numb...
Chris Ruane | 538 c486 (Link to this contribution) I was one of those who did not want the previous Government to introduce the measure, but consensus ...
Mark Harper | 538 c485 (Link to this contribution) Let me come to that point in a moment, because I want to spend a little time on it, if I may. If my ...
Mark Harper | 538 c490 (Link to this contribution) That point has been made, and I looked at it when I visited Northern Ireland, which, for historical ...
Sheila Gilmore | 538 c490 (Link to this contribution) I do not necessarily accept the proposition that fraud is a major issue in Britain, but the reason f...
Mark Harper | 538 c489-90 (Link to this contribution) She did, but she was talking about our proposal to allow voters to opt out by having a simple tick b...
Paul Blomfield | 538 c489 (Link to this contribution) On the Minister's point about the views of the Electoral Commission, did not the chair of the commis...
Jacob Rees-Mogg | 538 c490 (Link to this contribution) Does the Minister agree that the occasions of personation fraud are extremely rare, but that more fr...
Mark Harper | 538 c487 (Link to this contribution) Let me skip ahead to a quotation a little later in my remarks, which is relevant. There is a purpose...
Mark Harper | 538 c488-9 (Link to this contribution) I have listened carefully to what the right hon. Gentleman has said about the turnover of electors i...
Simon Hughes | 538 c488 (Link to this contribution) I am grateful for the tone of the debate so far. I have a constituency in Southwark where we probabl...
Mark Harper | 538 c488 (Link to this contribution) The hon. Gentleman raises a good point, and I will come on to it when I speak about the modified can...
Nicholas Dakin | 538 c487-8 (Link to this contribution) From the perspective of individuals in households, I am concerned about what appears to be duplicati...
David Morris | 538 c520-1 (Link to this contribution) This has led to an unknown number of people listing fictitious residents at their properties and vot...
Mark Durkan | 538 c522 (Link to this contribution) Northern Ireland has had more frequent and relatively positive mentions in this debate than in any o...
Sheila Gilmore | 538 c521-2 (Link to this contribution) I want to address one or two issues that have not yet been fully addressed. Reference has been made ...
Siobhain McDonagh | 538 c520 (Link to this contribution) Will the hon. Gentleman explain his source for his last assertion—that large numbers of people are r...
David Morris | 538 c520 (Link to this contribution) I am going off personal experience. I have stood in three seaside resorts and have come across situa...
Nicholas Dakin | 538 c518 (Link to this contribution) The fight for the franchise and the struggle for citizens to exercise a democratic voice through the...
Nick Smith | 538 c518-9 (Link to this contribution) It is good that the Government plan to use HMRC and DVLA data to boost registration, but does my hon...
Nicholas Dakin | 538 c519-20 (Link to this contribution) My hon. Friend makes a good point, which I shall touch on later in my speech. The danger is that yo...
David Morris | 538 c520 (Link to this contribution) This debate, which is on voting in this country, is one that is naturally at the heart of our democr...
Russell Brown | 538 c525 (Link to this contribution) I apologise to the House, the Minister and my right hon. Friend the shadow Secretary of State for no...
Siobhain McDonagh | 538 c524 (Link to this contribution) I do not want to affect the time left for others who want to make speeches, but I am happy to have a...
Eric Ollerenshaw | 538 c524-5 (Link to this contribution) I am always willing to have a chat afterwards, particularly with the hon. Lady. My constituency nei...
Eric Ollerenshaw | 538 c523-4 (Link to this contribution) I will, if the hon. Lady will let me finish. How will someone learn that voting is important and tha...
Sheila Gilmore | 538 c522-3 (Link to this contribution) I thank the hon. Gentleman for that intervention, which supports the point that I was trying to make...
Eric Ollerenshaw | 538 c523 (Link to this contribution) I am grateful to you, Mr Deputy Speaker, for calling me to speak, particularly because this has been...
David Evennett | 538 c498-9 (Link to this contribution) I am grateful for that comment. It is a fair point, and I note it and agree with it. Giving individ...
Duncan Hames | 538 c499 (Link to this contribution) Does the hon. Gentleman agree that the introduction of individual voter registration provides an opp...
David Evennett | 538 c499 (Link to this contribution) My hon. Friend makes a good point. Education is very important. When I visit schools, I try to encou...
Siobhain McDonagh | 538 c499-501 (Link to this contribution) I rise not to oppose individual registration but to ask Members from all parts of the House not to t...
Mark Williams | 538 c501-3 (Link to this contribution) I welcome this debate, and the consensual approach that has been taken by those on both Front Benche...
Jonathan Edwards | 538 c503-5 (Link to this contribution) I want to raise two specific concerns, the first of which is that although some of the changes are w...
Matthew Offord | 538 c505-6 (Link to this contribution) We have heard a lot this afternoon about lack of registration, but I am particularly keen to talk ab...
Siobhain McDonagh | 538 c506 (Link to this contribution) Could the hon. Gentleman address the point that his Government's assessment of the proposal admits t...
Matthew Offord | 538 c506-7 (Link to this contribution) The Government can say that, but I can only speak on behalf of my constituents; we have found eviden...
Graham Allen | 538 c507 (Link to this contribution) I apologise to you, Madam Deputy Speaker, and to the House for necessarily being out of the Chamber ...
Lord Jackson of Peterborough | 538 c516-8 (Link to this contribution) This is probably the first Opposition day debate that I have attended in which the Opposition substa...
Nia Griffith | 538 c515-6 (Link to this contribution) Under the Government's proposals as they stand, people who do not register individually by the end o...
Graham Allen | 538 c508-10 (Link to this contribution) My hon. Friend, as always, is well ahead of me, and I shall come on to those points. Something that...
Bill Esterson | 538 c508 (Link to this contribution) My hon. Friend is making a good speech, and an important contribution to the debate. Will he comment...
Sheila Gilmore | 538 c511 (Link to this contribution) I am not convinced that the current proposals will address the problem that the hon. Gentleman is ta...
Dan Rogerson | 538 c511-2 (Link to this contribution) The hon. Lady makes a fair point. I have discussed this with the Minister informally and in meetings...
Andrew Griffiths | 538 c513-5 (Link to this contribution) May I add my plaudits to those of hon. Members who have gone before? I do not wish to play Yoko to t...
Sadiq Khan | 538 c481-2 (Link to this contribution) My hon. Friend is right to make that point and her view is shared not only by those who represent ar...
Duncan Hames | 538 c482 (Link to this contribution) It is the Government's and indeed Parliament's intention to equalise the size of parliamentary const...
Sadiq Khan | 538 c482 (Link to this contribution) The hon. Gentleman is right to raise that point. In seats where there is a large number of students ...
Mark Durkan | 538 c482-3 (Link to this contribution) The shadow Minister was making a point about the impact of the changes on the next boundary review. ...
Sadiq Khan | 538 c483 (Link to this contribution) My hon. Friend makes a good point. People laughed during his intervention, but he is right to remind...
Andrew Griffiths | 538 c483 (Link to this contribution) On the point about people being denied a loan or a mortgage if they are not on the electoral registe...
Sadiq Khan | 538 c483-4 (Link to this contribution) That is one of the benefits of an accurate and complete register, but the changes could lead to debt...
Mark Harper | 538 c484 (Link to this contribution) It is good to be having this debate at, I think, the third time of asking. Before I explain the rati...
Frank Dobson | 538 c484 (Link to this contribution) In view of the fact that the Electoral Commission is saying that there may already be as many as 8 m...
Seema Malhotra | 538 c478 (Link to this contribution) Does my right hon. Friend agree that an accurate and complete register is important not only for an ...
Sadiq Khan | 538 c478-9 (Link to this contribution) This is my first chance to welcome my hon. Friend the Member for Feltham and Heston (Seema Malhotra)...
Anne Begg | 538 c480 (Link to this contribution) Does my right hon. Friend share my concern that although some people purposely do not want to be on ...
Sadiq Khan | 538 c480 (Link to this contribution) My hon. Friend makes her point far better than I would have made it. She will be aware of the repres...
Chris Ruane | 538 c479 (Link to this contribution) My right hon. Friend has referred to local authorities that have successfully used the threat of the...
Sadiq Khan | 538 c479-80 (Link to this contribution) I thank my hon. Friend for his intervention. I have seen evidence for what he mentions, and the loca...
Lord Jackson of Peterborough | 538 c480 (Link to this contribution) I am mindful of your admonition, Mr Speaker. I am puzzled by the right hon. Gentleman's views on ho...
Sadiq Khan | 538 c481 (Link to this contribution) I think the hon. Gentleman misunderstands his own position. The Political Parties and Elections Act ...
Speaker | 538 c480 (Link to this contribution) Order. Before the hon. Gentleman intervenes, let me make the point that 19 hon. Members are seeking ...
Wayne David | 538 c526-9 (Link to this contribution) Today's debate has been a good one, with contributions from about 20 Members, and no one has spoken ...
David Heath | 538 c529-31 (Link to this contribution) I, too, welcome the opportunity to have today's debate and, generally, the tone of the debate. I am ...
Yasmin Qureshi | 538 c525-6 (Link to this contribution) We know that some 5 million people who are eligible to vote have not registered to do so, and the Go...
Lord Jackson of Peterborough | 538 c477 (Link to this contribution) In view of the moderate and measured tone of the right hon. Gentleman's comments thus far, does he r...
Sadiq Khan | 538 c477 (Link to this contribution) I am grateful for the tenor of that intervention. I stand by that figure, not because it is mine, bu...
Sadiq Khan | 538 c477 (Link to this contribution) My hon. Friend is right to raise the issue of electoral fraud, which we must all do our best to figh...
Mark Tami | 538 c475-6 (Link to this contribution) Does my right hon. Friend accept that when individual voter registration was introduced in Northern ...
Sadiq Khan | 538 c475 (Link to this contribution) I beg to move,"That this House recognises that according to the Electoral Commission there are curre...
Sadiq Khan | 538 c476-7 (Link to this contribution) As ever, the hon. Gentleman raises a good question. The evidence from the experts is that of the 11%...
Julian Lewis | 538 c476 (Link to this contribution) This is a genuine inquiry: will the right hon. Gentleman inform the House whether a significant prop...
Sadiq Khan | 538 c476 (Link to this contribution) I thank my hon. Friend for his intervention. He is right to remind the House that in 2002, when indi...
Sadiq Khan | 538 c478 (Link to this contribution) I would not disagree with a word of what the hon. Gentleman has just said; the system is not fit for...
David Evennett | 538 c477-8 (Link to this contribution) I welcome the fact that the shadow Secretary of State is endeavouring to be so constructive; I think...
Sadiq Khan | 538 c478 (Link to this contribution) My hon. Friend is right to raise that point. To be fair to the Parliamentary Secretary, he recognise...
Mike Gapes | 538 c478 (Link to this contribution) Does my right hon. Friend agree that one of the problems with electoral registers is that while some...
Rehman Chishti | 538 c478 (Link to this contribution) The right hon. Gentleman has talked about electoral fraud, but does he acknowledge the view expresse...
Wayne David | 538 c491 (Link to this contribution) The Minister has mentioned postal voting and how important it is becoming in our electoral system. W...
Siobhain McDonagh | 538 c507 (Link to this contribution) Is my hon. Friend aware that in the ICM poll for the Electoral Commission, which has been cited as t...
Sadiq Khan | 538 c478 (Link to this contribution) The hon. Gentleman makes a good point. The credit reference agencies and the police also remind us t...
Siobhain McDonagh | 538 c520 (Link to this contribution) Will the hon. Gentleman give way? Presumably he has contacted the police about that.
Dan Rogerson | 538 c510 (Link to this contribution) I would like to cover a couple of elements connected with the prospective legislation though perhaps...
Graham Allen | 538 c507-8 (Link to this contribution) My hon. Friend makes her case eloquently, and she is a great champion of ensuring that members of th...
Paul Blomfield | 538 c512-3 (Link to this contribution) I welcome the opportunity to contribute to this debate, which gives us the chance to consider what s...
Karen Buck | 538 c481 (Link to this contribution) The issue here is the correlation between the likelihood of a person's registering on the electoral ...
Chris Ruane | 538 c477 (Link to this contribution) Does my right hon. Friend have any figures showing the number of prosecutions for electoral fraud? H...
Subjects
Fraud
Juries
Enforcement
Electoral register
Northern Ireland
Voting behaviour
Students
Second homes
Link
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