Electoral Registration and Administration Bill

It is a pleasure to serve under your chairmanship, Mr Hoyle.

The Opposition have tabled the...

I support the amendment. Locally, EROs might be faced with competing local interests and not wish...

My right hon. Friend makes a fair point. In a sense, the amendment would remove the discretion th...

I support what my right hon. Friend the Member for Leicester East (Keith Vaz) said. This matter i...

Yes, that is another good point. We all recognise that cash is short for local authorities. Indee...

I again endorse again what my hon. Friend says, as we all have experience of turning up to counts...

Yes, my colleague makes a very astute point borne out of his own experience. All of us who have b...

Is it not the case that the Electoral Commission already has the right to evaluate how well elect...

That is indeed correct. We have expressed on a number of occasions in Committee our worry that th...

I shall address my brief remarks to my amendment 35. It is a probing amendment, whose purpose is ...

The hon. Gentleman is making a powerful case—so powerful, indeed, that we hope that he will press...

After the Committee has heard my reply.

As my hon. Friend says, we must hear what he has to say on the subject first. His intervention is...

It is obvious from the attendance in the Chamber that the issues we are discussing are hardly set...

I have been listening very carefully to the hon. Gentleman’s argument. Is it not important for th...

The hon. Gentleman makes a very fair point. I do not wish to cast aspersions on the Electoral Com...

Does the hon. Gentleman accept that where the Electoral Commission feels an ERO has done the job ...

I agree, but there are existing checks and balances if the system does not work. I referred earli...

It is a pleasure to return to this Bill under your chairmanship, Mr Hoyle.

I am grateful to...

I have to say that I have made an assumption on the basis of what has happened so far with this B...

And on the basis of the way we have conducted our business in this Committee so far, I have also ...

I have a simple question for the Minister: would it be “reasonably practicable” not to carry out ...

No, it would not. The steps that an ERO needs to take will be set out both in the guidance from t...

The Minister is making a strong case. Is not the corollary of these amendments that, if we disreg...

I am grateful to the hon. Gentleman. He sets out why we must avoid being too prescriptive: we wan...

With all due respect, what the Minister is saying is about as clear as mud. As I understand it, t...

I am sorry if the hon. Gentleman cannot understand the point I am making, because I thought I had...

The Minister says that the things that the ERO will need to do will be set out in the regulations...

I am in danger of straying into a different part of the legislation here, because that requiremen...

indicated assent.

I think that the hon. Gentleman agrees with that point.

May I just deal with the other two ...

I concur warmly with the Minister. My experience of living through Operation Hooper, which was th...

I absolutely agree. There should be no constraint on dealing effectively with attempted or actual...

I hear what the Minister says about the reports produced by the Electoral Commission, but that is...

I hear what the hon. Gentleman is saying, but the Electoral Commission’s most recent report from ...

Under the 2010 Act, the Electoral Commission was given a central role because of the critical imp...

I absolutely agree. The Electoral Commission plays a hugely significant role and will continue to...

I heard what the Minister said. I was not entirely convinced by his arguments, but there was some...

I understand, Mr Williams, that you do not wish to move amendment 35.

indicated assent.

I call Wayne David.

As I indicated earlier, we feel that this is a very good amendment on an extremely important issu...

In principle, the provisions in clause 14 on the timing of parish and community council elections...

I would not want to mislead the hon. Gentleman by suggesting that I have personally made such con...

The clause deals with the timing of local elections, but local authority elections are a matter f...

I undertake to draw the hon. Gentleman’s remarks to the attention of the Wales Office and my hon....

I beg to move amendment 38, page 9, line 12, at end insert—

‘(1A) In section 13(4), at end ...

I am grateful to the hon. Gentleman for raising this sensible point. We all agree that, when poss...

I thank the Minister for that considered and balanced response. He acknowledges that there is an ...

No doubt the Minister is convinced that I am determined to make mischief on the clause. I am sorr...

What would happen to a Labour /Co-op candidate?

The hon. Gentleman pre-empts my next point. That is precisely what I want to refer to.

On the subject of a joint Liberal Democrat and Conservative emblem, could a blue duck—is it a duc...

I dread to think what it could be.

May I make an alternative suggestion? Perhaps it could be a dead duck sitting in an oak tree.

Perhaps there should be a competition to determine the most appropriate symbol.

On the issu...

I did indeed think that the hon. Gentleman intended to make further mischief, and he may have don...

I do not claim to be expert in this and I can see that the clause allows a candidate to use one e...

I believe I am right in saying that the clause would allow that if the emblem were registered as ...

I am grateful to my hon. Friend for giving way again. If his interpretation is not right, perhaps...

For the avoidance of any doubt, I will write to the hon. Gentleman. The emblem would have to be r...

It may be that that would have to allow for the possibility that a party would register two emble...

It does seem to be a much more complicated issue than I expected when I stood at the Dispatch Box...

I beg to move, That the clause be read a Second time.

With this it will be convenient to discuss new clause 2—Other voting offences—

‘In section ...

First, I emphasise that all political parties have had members who are responsible for electoral ...

The hon. Gentleman makes an interesting case. Following the incident that he describes, have the ...

There was no apology. They did start going down a different route, but they then started prosecut...

The hon. Gentleman’s new clause rightly suggests first deterring people and then being able to ca...

I thank the hon. Gentleman for his intervention, but I would rather he had not made it, because I...

I am interested in the hon. Gentleman’s example, but surely if someone stuffs extra ballots into ...

What happens is that basically they mark off extra votes on the marked register, so it is not dif...

I am sorry, but that is not what they do; they mark off the marked register, but there is also th...

We have experience in Birmingham of identified presiding officers campaigning for the Labour part...

I find it remarkable that the hon. Gentleman opened his speech by saying that electoral fraud, of...

Under election law, putting in polling agents is already allowed; that is not a change to the law...

Well, that can be done, but what is being suggested here is that they would somehow have a role i...

I have two little points to make on that. First, I said that all parties have people who are resp...

The hon. Gentleman has made some accusations, admittedly only in passing, but they are quite seri...

I did provide that information to the police in 2004, and they had an operation called Operation ...

What estimate has the hon. Gentleman made of the cost of kitting out every polling station in the...

What value does the hon. Gentleman place on integrity in electoral processes? That is the real qu...

The hon. Gentleman is absolutely right about integrity, but within that, and in hard times, we ha...

Somewhere in the judgment, Members will find that I made about 50 complaints to the police in 200...

The hon. Gentleman says that things have moved on in eight years. Does he have the statistics for...

Paragraph 717 of Richard Mawrey’s judgment states:

“The systems to deal with fraud are not ...

Has the hon. Gentleman thought that his suggestion of installing a camera in every polling statio...

First, I do not think that that is true; and, secondly the new clause is not necessarily the best...

If we were to adopt the hon. Gentleman’s policy of putting an extra 60,000 CCTV cameras in pollin...

The question we have to ask is whether the use of something is proportionate, because in my const...

What criteria would the hon. Gentleman use for placing those—[Interruption.] The Parliamentary Se...

Any decision would be better driven by the requests of the political parties. If they were willin...

Would political parties decide where the cameras went throughout the nation? If there were 60,000...

One point about the new clause is that it does not try to be explicit about how we might deal wit...

I was not making that proposal; I was asking the hon. Gentleman whether he agreed with it and was...

I am proposing, believe it or not, new clause 1, which would facilitate secondary legislation to ...

Listening to the hon. Gentleman, I have a novel suggestion: might it not be a good idea, first, t...

We do not need an ID card to have some way of checking an identity. I would not go for the finger...

In a recent parliamentary question, I asked how many successful prosecutions of electoral fraud t...

In fairness, Mr Hemming, you have taken a lot of interventions, and we have to deal with other ne...

Paragraph 717 of the Mawrey judgment, which I quoted earlier, deals with the hon. Gentleman’s poi...

This has been a fascinating debate. In my view, one of the weaknesses of the new clause is that i...

First, we have had for some time the experience of having police officers in polling stations fro...

The hon. Gentleman says that, but what is to prevent someone from shifting the camera so that it ...

Stick it on the end of their noses!

As I said, I think that it creates an emotional attachment, but I do not think that it is a good ...

It might have been only a suggestion but, as my hon. Friend the Member for Vale of Clwyd said, wh...

For the record, I want my hon. Friend and the rest of the Committee to know that that was a joke....

Having known my hon. Friend for many years, I know his sense of humour and will take his comment ...

I did report that problem—it was called Operation Gripe.

I am not being funny, but if somebody turns themselves into a serial complainer, I can understand...

The speech from the hon. Member for North Durham (Mr Jones) was interesting. It was like saying t...

I refer the hon. Gentleman to my earlier intervention. That research is already in place. I refer...

I respect the hon. Gentleman, but I am trying to develop a slightly different approach. I will do...

It is a pleasure to serve under your chairmanship in this Committee, Ms Clark.

My hon. Frie...

Does the Deputy Leader of the House agree that the police in this country, perhaps unfortunately,...

I mentioned in the debate on an earlier group of amendments the extraordinarily valuable work tha...

Marking stops the person who should be casting the vote from doing so, because someone will have ...

That is precisely the point about the tendered vote. The person who subsequently arrives at the p...

I apologise for having only recently come into the Chamber, but what the Minister says on persona...

The most important thing is the sequence of events. First, we want to get the register right. The...

I am sorry that the hon. Member for North Durham (Mr Jones) is not here to hear the answers to hi...

I beg to move, That the clause be read a Second time.

With this it will be convenient to discuss new clause 5—Explicit right of British citizens to reg...

At present, under sections 1 and 3 of the Representation of the People Act 1989, as amended by se...

A number of Members have major overseas firms based in their constituencies—I have Toyota, Rolls-...

My hon. Friend has read my mind. I shall happily address her issue a little later, but she makes ...

I am interested in what the hon. Gentleman is saying, and it sounds like a good case, but I wonde...

This is all about one group of people who live overseas and last registered here less than 15 yea...

My hon. Friend mentioned a category of British citizens who could not vote at all. Membership of ...

My hon. Friend raises two issues. The first is whether British citizens are entitled to vote in E...

My hon. Friend has clearly explained this arbitrary cut-off of 15 years. That is understood. Does...

I am grateful to my hon. Friend for that intervention. It is up to the electoral registration off...

I understand that, but I was asking a slightly different question. Should someone have the respon...

That is a very fair point. I think that Her Majesty’s Government should have an interest in their...

I shall speak briefly in support of my hon. Friend the Member for The Cotswolds (Geoffrey Clifton...

Citizens overseas.

What did I say?

Overseas citizens.

Thank you—a very important distinction, I am sure. I am saying that I believe our rules for peopl...

I am delighted to follow my hon. Friend the Member for South West Devon (Mr Streeter). For one th...

Surely the reason is that the system was built on a 19th-century rather than a 21st-century model...

That is entirely the point. We are living in a new world, and in a world that changes at a much f...

I am grateful to the hon. Member for The Cotswolds (Geoffrey Clifton-Brown) for introducing this ...

Surely the fact that somebody would want to register their overseas vote to take part in a genera...

The hon. Gentleman makes a strong point. I am simply reporting the fact that when Parliament deba...

indicated assent.

So we would still need to have a responsibility on overseas electors to register, rather than hav...

I support new clause 5. The reasoning behind it is clear and has been discussed over a long perio...

The hon. Member for Aldridge-Brownhills (Mr Shepherd) addressed two factors in his remarks, the f...

I am trying to make the specific point that our Representation of the People Act does not include...

Precisely so. The 1983 Act uses the term “Commonwealth citizen” and, by definition, while we rema...

What other democracies in the world do not designate their citizens as having the right to vote? ...

We are not entitled to vote only through Commonwealth membership. We are entitled to vote as Brit...

With the leave of the House, may I comment briefly on what the Deputy Leader of the House said in...

I beg to move, That the clause be read a Second time.

I am pleased to have the opportunity ...

What happens under the current arrangements if there is suddenly a medical incident, such as a ca...

My hon. Friend makes an extremely good point. That is exactly the sort of contingency that I am a...

That is wrong.

I agree. If the presiding officer is standing at the door of the polling station and sees that th...

Or collapses.

Yes. My hon. Friend once again comes up with an interesting contingency. Supposing someone at the...

Does the hon. Lady agree that under the Bill a police officer, or a local community support offic...

The hon. Gentleman is absolutely correct. However, as I am sure the Committee will appreciate, th...

On a point of order, Mr Evans. I wonder whether you have had notice that a Treasury Minister inte...

I thank the hon. Gentleman for his point of order. I have been given no indication that any Treas...

It is a pleasure to serve under your chairmanship, Mr Evans. It is also a pleasure to listen to t...

I thank the hon. Lady for giving way on that point. I have argued strongly that we should never h...

Like me, the hon. Gentleman represents a constituency that experienced problems. The commission m...

There was also a problem in areas where a large number of people were entitled to vote in one ele...

I take the hon. Gentleman’s point—I believe he is referring to European nationals. We would have ...

I am grateful for the opportunity to contribute. I rise with some trepidation to debate “clause 4...

Does my hon. Friend agree that presiding officers should be given a certain amount of flexibility...

I ask my hon. Friend to imagine this scenario. A person gets home late, arrives at the polling st...

I listened carefully to my hon. Friend’s description of the incident that might occur. I should m...

I agree. The most important thing is that people who have arrived at the polling station well bef...

Sadly, in the 6 May 2010 elections my constituency was seriously affected by events that were sim...

In Sheffield Central, which fortunately did not have a problem even though all the other constitu...

I thank my hon. Friend for that. We need to ensure that we tighten this law now to make it fairer...

I congratulate the hon. Member for Epping Forest (Mrs Laing) on tabling the new clause. She expla...

I welcome you to the Chair, Mr Evans, and am grateful to the hon. Member for Epping Forest (Mrs L...

I am concerned by the tone of the Minister’s remarks. If this was simply an administrative error,...

I am sorry that the hon. Lady asks why this happened in such a widespread way given that we have ...

Will the Minister give way?

No, I really do not have time if I am going to do justice to responding to the debate.

The ...

The Minister is right to read out that part of the Committee’s report, but since then the Elector...

I do not think the Electoral Commission has changed its position. [Interruption.] I do not think ...

On a point of order, Mr Evans. The Division bells in the immediate vicinity of the Chamber do not...

I am grateful to the hon. Gentleman for his point of order and shall ask for the matter to be inv...

I now have to announce the result of Divisions deferred from a previous day. On the motion relati...

I beg to move, That the Bill be now read the Third time.

I thank Members from all parts of ...

Like the Minister, I commend the programme agreed for Committee, which was sensible and appropria...

I do not want to risk your wrath, Mr Deputy Speaker, but will the hon. Gentleman tell us how much...

As I thought I had made clear, the Opposition want plenty of time to discuss all the important is...

If I recall correctly, the words in the box that has to be ticked for postal voting include “at a...

Yes, that is a real concern. I am not sure whether my hon. Friend was present when I referred to ...

Before my hon. Friend moves on to ring-fencing, I would like to say that the Electoral Commission...

I cannot, of course, speak for the Government, and unfortunately I cannot read the Government’s m...

I thank my hon. Friend for giving way yet again. About five years ago, when Labour was in office,...

My hon. Friend makes his point forcefully and clearly. I pay tribute to him for the work that he ...

First, may I emphasise how different the Bill that we have deliberated on in Committee is from th...

As always it is a pleasure to follow the hon. Member for Ceredigion (Mr Williams). I want briefly...

It is a pleasure to speak on Third Reading—the final part of this long debate. My interest in the...

Like my hon. Friend, I am not a conspiracy theorist, but one does not need to be a conspiracy the...

Absolutely. It was my hon. Friend himself who put me on to relevant websites. There are specific ...

To go back to my hon. Friend’s previous point, does he share my surprise—astonishment, actually—t...

I will come on to that point when I conclude my speech, but I share my hon. Friend’s concern.

Given that the hon. Gentleman raises that point, I refer him to the Government of Wales Act 2006,...

Let me set out a list of the constitutional changes that Labour implemented and the way in which ...

It was a mistake.

Politically, they were all mistakes, but constitutionally it may have been the right thing to do....

On electoral registration and issues to do with election, there has always been a degree of conse...

Did my hon. Friend really mean sticky sticks?

I certainly did. I am far too polite to suggest anything other of the Minister. He is a fine gent...

My hon. Friend refers to the fact that if the Bill had gone through in its original form it would...

Yes, and that is what is sad about what the Bill has done. When any legislation to do with electi...

On behalf of members of the Political and Constitutional Reform Committee, who have taken part in...

I ask the Serjeant at Arms to investigate the delay in the Aye Lobby.