| Previous Section | Back to Table of Contents | Lords Hansard Home Page |
Baroness Hanham rose to move, as an amendment to the above Motion, at end insert "but do propose Amendment No. 8B in lieu":
"REGISTRATION: PERSONAL IDENTIFIERS
(1) The 1983 Act is amended as follows.
(2) In section 10 (maintenance of registers: annual canvass), after subsection (4) insert—
"(4A) Subject to subsection (4B) below, the information to be obtained by the use of such a form for the purpose of a canvass shall include—
(a) the signature of each of the persons in relation to whom the form is completed, and
(b) the date of birth of each such person.
20 Jun 2006 : Column 639
(4B) The registration officer may dispense with the requirement mentioned in subsection (4A)(a) above in relation to any person if he is satisfied that it is not reasonably practicable for that person to sign in a consistent and distinctive way because of any incapability of his or because he is unable to read."
(3) In section 10A (maintenance of registers: registration of electors)—
(a) after subsection (1B) insert—
"(1C) Subject to subsection (1D) below, an application for registration in respect of an address in England, Scotland or Wales shall include—
(a) the signature of each of the persons to whom the application relates, and
(b) the date of birth of each such person.
(1D) The registration officer may dispense with the requirement mentioned in subsection (4A)(a) above in relation to any person if he is satisfied that it is not reasonably practicable for that person to sign in a consistent and distinctive way because of any incapability of his or because he is unable to read.";
(b) in subsection (5), at the beginning insert "Subject to subsection (5A) below,";
(c) after subsection (5) insert—
"(5A) A person's name is to be removed from the register in respect of any address if—
(a) the form mentioned in section 10(4) above in respect of that address does not include all the information relating to him required by section 10(4A) above; or
(b) the registration officer determines that he is not satisfied with the information relating to that person which was included in that form pursuant to that requirement.";
(d) in subsection (6), after "above" insert "or his name is to be removed from it by virtue of subsection (5A) above,"; and
(e) in subsection (8), after "5" insert ", (5A)".
(4) In section 13A (alteration of registers), after subsection (2B) insert—
"(2C) Subject to subsection (2D) below, an application for registration under subsection (1)(a) above in respect of an address in the United Kingdom shall include—
(a) the signature of each of the persons to whom the application relates, and
(b) the date of birth of each such person.
(2D) The registration officer may dispense with the requirement mentioned in subsection (4A)(a) above in relation to any person if he is satisfied that it is not reasonably practicable for that person to sign in a consistent and distinctive way because of any incapability of his or because he is unable to read.""
The noble Baroness said: My Lords, before commencing my speech, I ask noble Lords to note that, in the amendment that we have tabled, we have corrected a technical error. There was a previous reference to the "chief electoral officer", but that has been amended to "electoral registration officer" throughout, as there is no chief electoral officer in England and Wales, only in Ireland.
In the light of the temperate way in which the Minister has introduced this debate, I say with absolutely no hostility at all that I return to the question of the identifiers on a general basis. I completely agree with the Minister that the debate on this legislation has been extremely co-operative and helpful. Although I rankle slightly when she keeps on referring to the amendments of the noble Lord,
20 Jun 2006 : Column 640
Lord Elder—since we were all there together—I acknowledge that the noble Lord was given some government help to get the amendment right at the end. But it is fair to say that this was a truly cross-party decision, and we have made substantial amendments to the Bill already.
Last night, in Grand Committee, we considered a new electoral registration form, compiled with the help of a number of luminaries, including the Electoral Commission. Yet three of us at the Committee were still able to pick substantial holes in the form's comprehensibility. It was obvious that the information to be included on the form by the occupier was quite personal. Unless the household consisted of close family members, it would be difficult to ensure that the information was accurate. Some of it, relating to qualification by nationality, was not going to be easy for the occupier to obtain. That form does not arise from this Bill; it arises from previous legislation. It struck us as strange that it should be introduced at this juncture, when it will have to change to accommodate the requirement introduced by this legislation for personal identifiers for postal voters. However, we are where we are with that, but it underlined the ease with which incorrect information could find its way on to a registration form and from which personation could so easily arise.
When we last considered this matter, I quoted examples of personation given by the Times—the cases were also cited in the other place—of people who were known to be in Pakistan at the time of the election but who appeared in polling stations on polling day and voted: they voted not by post, but in person. Since no checks are undertaken at the polling station, there would be no means for an officer to identify that the people voting were not those registered.
It is a sad truth that there are people who do not act scrupulously with regard to voting and who do not consider it to be the precious right that I know the Minister and others involved in the Bill believe it to be. Those people do not believe that voting should be carried out with integrity, but are anxious for one reason or another to skew election results.
As the Minister said, we have during the passage of the Bill co-operatively made huge changes to the provisions that it contained at the outset. One of the most successful changes has been to ensure that individual identifiers must be supplied for postal votes. It would stretch the matter only a little further to require that that should be done in general. Each person should be registered individually and should provide at least two identifiers, namely a signature and a date of birth—those are what will be required for postal votes—which can be checked at the time of voting in the polling station or, as far as postal voting is concerned, on receipt of the vote by the appropriate electoral registration officer.
In this House and in the other place, one of the objections raised by the Government to extending
20 Jun 2006 : Column 641
postal voter identifiers to general registrations is that that might reduce the number of people on the register, at least in the short term. Having seen the new form last night, I am convinced that it will make it much easier for the person required to make the return for, for example, a house in multiple occupation to leave people off or to put them on incorrectly. I therefore do not accept that to have a register that is even more accurate than at present, even if the number of people on it is reduced in the short term, would be a world-shattering disaster.
We have debated this matter on several occasions. We on this side of the House are convinced that, if the Government do not accept our amendment today, they will have to concede to it at a later date. We all know how hard it is to get legislation through, so that might be a long time coming. So I ask the Minister: if it is going to come, why not now? I beg to move.
Moved, as an amendment to the above Motion, at end insert "but do propose Amendment No. 8B in lieu".—(Baroness Hanham.)
Lord Rennard: My Lords, our debates on this issue have revolved around the issues of principle and timing. I am particularly grateful that the Government have confirmed recently and repeatedly that they accept the principle behind individual voter registration. Indeed, only last week, the Minister in the other place, Bridget Prentice, said:
"On Lords amendment No. 8, we have said previously that we accept the principle behind individual registration".—[Official Report, Commons, 13/6/06; col. 661.]
So it is simply a matter of timing. Two opposition parties and the independent Electoral Commission think that now is the right time to introduce the measure. The Government clearly think that the best time is some time in future, when Members of another place may feel reassured that they will not lose many supporters from the electoral rolls as a result of such a measure.
However, everyone else thinks that we need to deal with the potential for electoral fraud, especially in the postal vote system, as soon as practically possible. We need to deal with the sort of problems to which the noble Baroness, Lady Hanham, just referred, which arose during the recent local elections. There is no value in checking someone's signature at a polling station if you do not have their signature on the voting register in the first place.
It will reflect badly on Parliament if we do not do all that we reasonably can to deal with such problems before the next general election. Many sensible and fair political commentators, such as Peter Riddell writing in the Times last week, urge that we have a duty to act in this matter. With hindsight, we made a mistake in the Political Parties, Elections and Referendums Act 2000 to allow postal voting on
20 Jun 2006 : Column 642
demand without proper safeguards when the system was so considerably expanded. The sooner we properly rectify that mistake, the better.
In this Bill, with agreement, we have worked together to build in some measures to improve the security of postal voting. Those measures are welcome and worthwhile, but they do not go as far as they should. It would be better to get those things right now than to have many allegations of electoral fraud at the next general election—either in the postal voting system or at the polling station—clouding results or the outcome and bringing politicians generally into a lower level of regard than would otherwise be the case. Now is the time to act: before the general election.
| Next Section | Back to Table of Contents | Lords Hansard Home Page |