My Lords, there are real concerns about these measures. They include the security of our electoral processes, the risk of undermining confidence in them and, above all, our elections being bought by dark money and illegitimate foreign interference. That is why we support the amendment in the name of the noble Lord, Lord Khan of Burnley.
All parties agree on the principle of UK citizens living overseas being able to vote for representatives in our Parliament, but these statutory instruments do not do much to help them. In the absence of a fixed-term
Parliament, there is a very short timescale in our system for conducting a general election. It is really too short to enable many people living overseas to be able to return postal votes. We could have better addressed the issue of UK citizens living overseas through the creation of overseas constituencies, dedicated to representing their interests. They do this in many other countries, including France, Italy and Portugal. Countries such as the US and Australia allow a longer period, of up to a fortnight after polling stations have closed, for postal votes to be returned, enabling many more of their citizens living overseas to participate in their elections. When I raised such issues during the passage of the Elections Bill, the Government lacked interest. This failure means, for example, that members of our Armed Forces serving overseas, or British diplomats working in our embassies, will often remain unable to cast their votes in general elections.
What the Government are interested in is allowing many more donations to come from abroad, without any organisation in this country having any real capacity to verify the original sources of those donations. The absence of any cap on the size of donations will no doubt encourage more donations of, say, £5 million-plus to come from people whose real interests are not in this country. Why should a billionaire tax exile be able to fund a political party in the UK, and who knows where their money really comes from? The Government have clipped the wings of the previously independent Electoral Commission and made criminal enforcement of election finance laws significantly harder. I wonder why. I think perhaps we should be told.
Political parties themselves have very little capacity to scrutinise overseas bank accounts, or to inspect the accounts of companies operating overseas, even if they want to. Earlier this year, the Government rejected an amendment to the then National Security Bill which would have insisted on greater scrutiny of the original sources of donations to parties. I wonder why. The chair of the Intelligence and Security Committee, Julian Lewis, supported such an amendment, saying that
“the UK has clearly welcomed Russian money, including in the political sphere … We must protect against covert, foreign state-backed financial donations if we are to defend our democratic institutions from harmful interference and influence”.—[Official Report, Commons, 3/5/23; col. 132.]
But this Government did not want our democracy to have that protection. I wonder why. I think perhaps we should be told.
5.45 pm
As the organisation Spotlight On Corruption says, we need the involvement of the National Crime Agency, with its broad national-level powers, specialist legal tools for tackling national security risks and money laundering, extensive overseas law enforcement network and close working relationship with MI5. The NCA has the ability to co-ordinate and lead criminal enforcement of the UK’s electoral laws, but it appears to have taken a back seat on the enforcement of electoral law breaches. I wonder why. I think we should be told.
We have to conclude that the overseas electors legislation is more about big donations from abroad than enabling UK citizens living overseas to cast a vote.
Last month, the Government suddenly announced an increase in national party spending limits of 80%, allowing a party to spend up to £35 million in a general election year, even though no previous Government have seen the need to increase the national party limit at all, and Boris Johnson’s Government spent just £16 million in 2019. The reason for the new limits must in part be to allow for major new donations from abroad.
The statutory instruments before us expose serious inconsistencies in our approach to elections and to making them fair. They will allow overseas electors to have their identity vouched for by a currently registered voter when they sign up to vote. Voters living here can also register in this way, though the process is very rarely used in the UK. In theory, someone could have lived abroad for 50 years, with little evidence of where they used to vote, and a friend could vouch that they were telling the truth about their eligibility to cast their vote in a marginal seat and to make unlimited donations to a political party.
We are constantly applying double standards in our election laws, as the Government constantly change the rules in their favour. Since May this year, we have required very specific forms of photo ID at polling stations. This is simply a crude form of voter suppression, as Jacob Rees-Mogg recently admitted. In studying the effects of the photo ID rules, the Electoral Commission reported that:
“Around 4% of all non-voters said they didn’t vote because of the voter ID requirement”.
This barrier to voting could have been reduced significantly if, for example, a voter with the requisite photo ID was able to attest that another voter was who they say they are. This system works well in Canada, and the Electoral Commission recommended it here, but this Government will not have it. I wonder why. I think we should be told.
The Government will allow attestation when an overseas elector wants to register to vote, and unlike with people living in the UK, this may become quite common practice. However, such a system is not allowed when UK citizens living in the UK want to cast a vote at a polling station. Perhaps the Minister will explain this inconsistency, and let us know why the Government will not follow the advice of the Electoral Commission on this issue and why they have ruled out the principle of attestation at polling stations if it is good enough to get on the voting register. Democracy requires a level playing field, but this Government do not seem to believe in it.