Elections Bill

I very much agree with the thrust of the comments of the noble Lord, Lord Scriven. In the light o...

The noble Lord is just slightly ahead of me, because I was going to come on to that. I will answe...

My Lords, I wish to send my good wishes to my noble friend Lord True. I hope that if he has got C...

My Lords, I offer Green support for the general trend of these amendments. I also join the rest o...

My Lords, I will speak briefly to Amendment 156 in the names of the noble Baronesses, Lady Suttie...

My Lords, I too wish the noble Lord, Lord True, a speedy recovery and a quick return to duty, hop...

My Lords, I begin by conveying the regret of my noble friend Lord True that he is unable to be in...

Before the Minister sits down, he rightly said that taxation has not historically been used as a ...

My Lords, I understand where the noble Baroness is on this. I think one has to distinguish nation...

Before the Minister sits down, can I clarify what he has said about liability for payment? My Ame...

My Lords, may I point out one other anomaly? I imagine everyone in this House pays tax, and yet w...

The noble Baroness, Lady Deech, is, of course, quite correct and we will be looking at the questi...

My Lords, this has been a very useful debate, which has yet again exposed how unco-ordinated and ...

I am grateful to the noble Lord for allowing me to intervene. As I understood it, it was official...

Yes, and to create overseas constituencies. I am looking at the noble Lord, Lord Altrincham, who ...

I am grateful to the noble Lord, Lord Wallace, for talking about people thinking through the cons...

There are lots of ramifications that we have discussed extensively. I am happy to discuss them wi...

Moved by

Lord Dubs

153: After Clause 13, insert the following new Clause—

“Memb...

My Lords, it is with great pleasure that I speak to Amendment 153 standing in my name and that of...

My Lords, I generally agree with the noble Lord, Lord Dubs. He makes some extremely powerful spee...

My Lords, I came into this Chamber absolutely not caring about the outcome of this—I was waiting ...

My Lords, I am sure we all hope that the noble Baroness, Lady Jones, lasts for a long time in thi...

In the six general elections since I have been a Member of this House, I have always found people...

My Lords, one of the things which today’s debate has proved is that logic has never been the basi...

I think the Canadian upper House is not elected.

They follow us, which is quite nice; they are part of the Empire. I would rather that we be remov...

My Lords, I did not speak on the Bill on Second Reading, because I was not able to be present, al...

Bishops are here for only a brief period. Some of them are here for five, six or seven years. One...

None the less, while they are Members of this House, it seems rather odd that they are allowed to...

My Lords, I support the noble Lords, Lord Dubs and Lord Rennard. I am not going to repeat the arg...

My Lords, I also apologise for not speaking on Second Reading; I was unable to. I was not plannin...

My Lords, I have a question—and I did not come in to speak either. Since I have been a Member of ...

Yes, I was allowed to vote.

Well, that is the answer to my question.

My Lords, we talk about piecemeal reform, and changes to this House have not necessarily been a r...

My Lords, this amendment from the noble Lord, Lord Dubs, who is joined on the Marshalled List by ...

Is that not true of MPs? Why should they be allowed to vote? They have two grabs.

When Parliament is prorogued for a general election, MPs cease to be Members of Parliament. They ...

Of course, we are on the register and can vote in every other election, including local governmen...

I think the point made by the noble Lord, Lord Redesdale, was that a distinction must be made on ...

My Lords, I never thought that so many different sorts of opinions would come out of the woodwork...

The noble Lord cannot get away with that. When Parliament is dissolved, as distinct from being pr...

My Lords, the noble Lord, Lord Grocott, has just informed me that MPs are paid during Prorogation...

I just want to say to my noble friend Lord Cormack that, if a Member of Parliament is in a consti...

Well, we are getting into the realm of pub quiz questions. I am perfectly aware of the point that...

Moved by

Lord Green of Deddington

154: After Clause 13, insert the following new Clau...

My Lords, I gave notice at Second Reading that it was my intention to bring forward an amendment ...

Before the noble Lord sits down, could I ask a question? He referenced my noble and learned frien...

A lot has changed in 14 years, but the thrust of what the noble and learned Lord, Lord Goldsmith,...

My Lords, I have great sympathy with the arguments of the noble Lord, Lord Green of Deddington; I...

I declare an interest as a former electoral commissioner. First, I agree with the remarks made on...

My Lords, this is the third occasion on which I have had to say that, given the way our constitut...

I assume the noble Lord is aware that British citizens in India are not permitted to vote.

I shall come to that; this is the beginning of a lecture that will take some time.

When I a...

My Lords, I was sorry not to be able to speak at Second Reading. It is always a pleasure to follo...

My Lords, I have some sympathy with the points made, but I wish this amendment could have been de...

My Lords, with Amendment 154 we return to the franchise. The purpose of the amendment, as the nob...

I just wanted to point out that the 1918 Act was passed especially in recognition of the fact tha...

The noble Lord, Lord Desai, is once again perfectly right.

Successive Governments and Parli...

The noble Earl says that our ties with the Commonwealth endure. I agree with the sentiment but th...

My Lords, I understand that. It is clear that this is an argument that runs very deep. We may or ...

My Lords, it has been a very interesting debate. I welcome the response of the noble Lord, Lord W...

Moved by

Earl Howe

157: Schedule 8, page 151, line 5, leave out “or Northern Ireland”...

Moved by

Baroness Hayman of Ullock

160A: Clause 28, page 40, line 31, at end insert “...

My Lords, I have a couple of amendments to Clause 28 in this group, and then further amendments, ...

My Lords, the noble Baroness, Lady Hayman, referred to my Amendment 171 in this group, to which I...

My Lords, very briefly from these Benches, most of these probing amendments seem reasonable and w...

First, I thank my noble friend for bringing the Committee up to date with the letter from the Min...

I did not ask what more could be added but for an example of variation.

I will get an answer for the noble Lord and write to him.

The list includes, but is not lim...

Before my noble friend moves off that point, and picking up a comment made by the noble Lord, Lor...

Issues from around the country that we need to take note of have been brought forward in this Com...

My question was slightly different. I appreciate that the Minister tried to answer, but what asse...

It is considered to be the correct benchmark taking into account proportionality and the fact tha...

I thank the Minister for the clarification she has provided, particularly around my amendment see...

No—we are talking about ensuring that the list provided in Schedule 9 remains accurate through po...

So the “varying” bit is just to do with the description of the offence. I thank the Minister.

Moved by

Earl Howe

162: Clause 30, page 42, line 23, after “office” insert “or a rele...

Moved by

Earl Howe

166: Clause 31, page 44, line 2, after “office” insert “or a relev...

Moved by

Earl Howe

169: Clause 32, page 45, line 37, after “office” insert “or a rele...

Moved by

Earl Howe

173: Clause 35, page 46, line 24, leave out paragraph (b)

Me...

Moved by

Earl Howe

177: Schedule 10, page 160, line 33, leave out paragraph 4

M...

Moved by

Earl Howe

179: Clause 38, page 48, line 1, after “office” insert “or a relev...

Moved by

Lord Clement-Jones

180A: Clause 39, page 48, line 28, leave out “reasonably ...

My Lords, I shall also speak to Amendments 194A, 194B, 196A and 212C. I am a relative interloper ...

My Lords, I congratulate the noble Lord, Lord Clement-Jones, on an extremely full exposition of h...

My Lords, I support these amendments, so comprehensively introduced by the noble Lord, Lord Cleme...

My Lords, I would have rather welcomed being targeted by a foreign Government in the various elec...

My Lords, I will briefly intervene, having heard the noble Lord, Lord Mann. It is important to un...

My Lords, I thank my noble friend Lord Clement-Jones for the amendments he has brought forward wi...

My Lords, I thank the noble Lord, Lord Clement-Jones, for his excellent introduction to a range o...

My Lords, I thank the noble Lord, Lord Clement-Jones, for a very thorough piece of scrutiny of th...

This is about transparency, so that the public can know that somebody is saying different things ...

Understood. Listening to the debate, two words have come out, and we will reflect those. One is “...

I am not asking my noble friend to reply this evening, because this is a complicated question, bu...

I take note of that and will make sure that my noble friend understands the unpicking of all of t...

My Lords, I thank all noble Lords who have taken part in this debate, particularly the noble Baro...

Moved by

Earl Howe

181: Clause 40, page 49, line 25, leave out subsection (2) and ins...

Moved by

Earl Howe

184: Clause 41, page 50, line 1, after “future candidates” insert ...

Moved by

Earl Howe

189: Clause 42, page 51, line 14, at end insert—

“(4) The th...

Moved by

Earl Howe

190: Clause 45, page 53, line 20, leave out “by a person (“A”)”