Electoral Registration and Administration Bill

I like the hon. Member for Caerphilly (Mr David), but I fear that spending too many evenings in p...

I would have made this point to the hon. Member for Caerphilly (Mr David), had he shown the gener...

The Minister makes an astute point. In 2001, the year in which the hon. Member for Caerphilly ent...

My hon. Friend is making some powerful points. Does he agree that the modernisation of our system...

I could not agree more with my hon. Friend, who has great experience in the House.

The Bill...

Will the hon. Gentleman answer a question that has so far remained unanswered? The 2009 Act was p...

Because we see this as in the best interest of the body politic generally. There is a plethora of...

I am certainly no expert on the Australian system and I am sure that school education there is go...

We will not meander down the path of compulsory voting, which is a completely separate issue, and...

I certainly would not tolerate the fraudulent registration of even one postal vote, but how can i...

We are making specific proposals. I think that the hon. Lady is tarrying with the wrong person. I...

I am happy to be able to give my hon. Friend that assurance. There will not be coalition candidat...

Finally, let me say that the data-matching projects are very useful, but in Peterborough’s case t...

rose—

Order. Many Members wish to speak, so I am imposing a 12-minute time limit on contributions.

First, let me say that the principle of individual registration is unarguably right; indeed, I ha...

I thank my hon. Friend for supporting my ten-minute rule Bill in the last Session. I hope to brin...

I am certainly prepared to support that Bill.

This is not just about jury service; it is al...

I am grateful for the opportunity to speak in the debate and I broadly welcome the content of the...

The law provides for people who commit electoral fraud to be prosecuted, fined or imprisoned. If ...

I shall come on to that exact point. There are a range of reasons why electoral fraud is not repo...

In 2004 in Sheffield we had an all-postal vote election. Labour won that election against the tre...

Certainly not. I am suggesting that certain parties can abuse the system of on-demand postal voti...

I entirely concur with my hon. Friend’s comments. What we have found in Peterborough from time to...

This is a particular issue in the south Asian community. I have met Asian women in my constituenc...

If I may issue a challenge or wager to the hon. Member for Pendle (Andrew Stephenson), it is that...

Is the hon. Lady really telling the intelligent and articulate Pakistani women in my constituency...

I think that that intervention is the result of the hon. Gentleman’s own embarrassment at some of...

The hon. Lady may be aware that people gave evidence to the Political and Constitutional Reform C...

I am not sure that I understand the hon. Gentleman’s intervention, but the Association of Chief P...

The hon. Member for Mitcham and Morden (Siobhain McDonagh) made a thoughtful speech, although I d...

The first time I heard of the proposal for individual registration, I expressed my opposition to ...

Why does the right hon. Gentleman think that our fellow United Kingdom citizens in Northern Irela...

I am rather surprised that the hon. Gentleman gives the example of Northern Ireland, because he c...

I am thinking about the figure of 9 million that the right hon. Gentleman gave. Is it not the cas...

I do not think that is what will happen in practice. I admit that it may happen in some cases, bu...

The right hon. Gentleman is mistaken about houses in multiple occupation. At the moment, people i...

The measures are proposed for areas where there is about a 30% to a 33% turnover of population ea...

It is a genuine pleasure to follow the right hon. Member for Holborn and St Pancras (Frank Dobson...

That argument smacks of the Conservative’s attitude towards the poor in general—the undeserving p...

Not in my constituency, it is not, where a large majority of them vote Tory. I want them on the r...

Does my hon. Friend agree that the Labour party should have learnt its lesson from the Bradford W...

Order. I think there was a question in there somewhere.

Yes, of course I agree with my hon. Friend. His example is a very good one.

We are getting ...

Members who do not think that young people will register are being overly pessimistic. When I vis...

I agree entirely with the Minister. Of course, it is relatively easy for electoral registration o...

Will the hon. Lady give way?

Sadly, I do not have time. I am sorry.

Government Members are pleased that the Minister has...

The hon. Lady’s argument seems to be that young people who cannot be bothered to fill in the form...

No—that is completely wrong. My point is that if someone is just outside the polling station—in t...

The Government did listen, and the Political and Constitutional Reform Committee agreed with our ...

I appreciate the Minister’s position, but perhaps that is something we can look at as the Bill pa...

I should like to speak in support of the reasoned amendment tabled by my right hon. and hon. Frie...

I asked an outside computer expert at the demonstration what would happen when people did not hav...

I could not agree more. It is not that I am opposed to online registration—we must move with the ...

It is a pleasure to follow the hon. Member for Sunderland Central (Julie Elliott). She approached...

On that point, does the hon. Gentleman not agree that it would be a good idea if the Government l...

The Opposition have been wallowing in conspiracy theories in this regard. The Government have mad...

It is a pleasure and an honour to follow the hon. Member for Ceredigion (Mr Williams), who has be...

Let me take the hon. Gentleman back to the subject of the European election system. He said that ...

It was the right thing to do. I personally did not think that that was the right thing to do, but...

It is very simple. We put through the Fixed-term Parliaments Act 2011 because we thought that it ...

The Minister has given me half the answer, but why did the Government bring the agreed date of 20...

I am following the hon. Gentleman’s argument on party political advantage, but is he actually sug...

I am saying that the Electoral Commission’s research into who has been left off the register show...

rose—

Order. This debate has to finish at 7 o’clock. In order to fit in everybody who has been in the C...

I am grateful for the opportunity to speak in the debate and, indeed, to follow the hon. Member f...

The hon. Member for Dewsbury (Simon Reevell) made guarded and thoughtful remarks, but I am concer...

Which one?

I will tell you later.

I want to express my concern about how this Bill will profoundly und...

Surely the hon. Gentleman is vastly underestimating the ability of the average student to fill in...

I am simply reflecting the views that have been expressed to me by the elected representatives of...

I have taken a degree of interest in the Bill, but unlike the hon. Member for Vale of Clwyd (Chri...

I want to use the opportunity this afternoon to repeat the concerns that I first raised in Januar...

I have been involved in this issue for the past 30 years, having trained to be a Conservative par...

I was interested to hear my hon. Friend the Member for Sunderland Central (Julie Elliott) explain...

I thank the hon. Lady for allowing me to answer her question. I have not changed my mind. During ...

I thank the hon. Lady for clarifying the position, although I still think, given the comments tha...

It strikes me that my hon. Friend is advancing the point that individual electoral registration o...

That is exactly my point. It is not just about the levels of population within an area, as variab...

I apologise to the House for having been absent for some 90 minutes. I am grateful to you for cal...

A major problem at present is that the previous occupants of the home may be on the electoral reg...

I am grateful to my hon. Friend. He has anticipated a point that I shall be making later if time ...

Might not this be one of the reasons: a piece of paper comes through the door, it looks official ...

My hon. Friend has far more experience of these matters than I have. I believe that there are a m...

I sympathise with the hon. Gentleman’s argument. Does he recognise an experience that I had recen...

I have not had such an experience myself. I am shocked to hear of the hon. Gentleman’s experience...

I am extremely grateful for being given the opportunity to speak in this debate. On Second Readin...

The hon. Gentleman is making a passionate speech, as well as a self-congratulatory one. He is con...

I think that the hon. Gentleman has entirely misread my comments, and I wonder whether he has cho...

We have debated this matter for the past five hours, but does the hon. Gentleman not accept that ...

The hon. Lady has moderated her language since she made her speech earlier, in which she clearly ...

They won’t be the electorate.

The hon. Gentleman rightly points out that they will not be the electorate then, but in this plac...

At best.

At best. The key issue is that we will not know, even from the pilots, whether that is an appropr...

We have enjoyed an excellent debate, with contributions from my hon. Friends the Members for Luto...

Oh deary, deary me! It is a rare privilege for the Minister responsible for political and constit...

Will my hon. Friend remind the House that the Bill is the subject of a pilot whereby Members can ...

Indeed I will, as the Parliamentary Secretary did when he moved the motion earlier. I think that ...

In raising that issue, I asked what the Government would do if the Bill, when an Act, leads to a ...

We are confident that it will not do so—[Interruption.] But let me say that I can point to the fa...