Session 2012 - 13
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Other Bills before Parliament


 
 

49

 

SUPPLEMENT TO THE VOTES AND PROCEEDINGS

 
 

Wednesday 27 June 2012

 

Committee of the whole House

 

Proceedings

 

Electoral Registration and Administration Bill


 

[Third DAY]


 

Mr Wayne David

 

Angela Smith

 

Not called  26

 

Clause  10,  page  7,  line  34,  at end insert ‘, with the exception of an order made

 

under section 6(2)’.

 

Clause Agreed to.

 

Clauses 11 and 12 Agreed to.

 


 

Wayne David

 

Angela Smith

 

Withdrawn  39

 

Schedule  4,  page  21,  line  23,  leave out sub-paragraph (2).

 

Mr Mark Williams

 

Negatived on division  35

 

Schedule  4,  page  21,  line  23,  leave out ‘, so far as is reasonably practicable,’.

 

Wayne David

 

Angela Smith

 

Not called  37

 

Schedule  4,  page  21,  line  26,  at end insert—

 

    ‘(4)  

In subsection (2), after paragraph (e), insert—

 

“(f)    

reporting to the police any suspicion he might have that an

 

offence had been committed relevant to the integrity of

 

registration and absent vote applications.”.’.

 

Wayne David

 

Angela Smith

 

Not called  40

 

Schedule  4,  page  21,  line  26,  at end insert—


 
 

Committee of the whole House Proceedings: 27 June 2012      

50

 

Electoral Registration and Administration Bill, continued

 
 

‘(4)    

At the end of subsection (3) insert—

 

“(4)    

If the Electoral Commission judges that registration officers have not

 

taken all necessary steps as outlined in this section, the Electoral

 

Commission shall have the power to intervene.”.’.

 

Schedule Agreed to.

 

Clauses 13 and 14 Agreed to.

 


 

Wayne David

 

Angela Smith

 

Withdrawn  38

 

Clause  15,  page  9,  line  12,  at end insert—

 

‘(1A)    

In section 13(4), at end add “provided that the registration officer shall not make

 

any such changes if an election specified in section 13B(4) is scheduled to take

 

place within 30 days of publication of the revised version of the register.”.’.

 

Clause Agreed to.

 

Clauses 16 to 21 Agreed to.

 


 

REMAINING NEW CLAUSES

 

Personation

 

John Hemming

 

Withdrawn  NC1

 

To move the following Clause:—

 

‘In section 60 of the Representation of the People Act 1983 (Personation) after

 

subsection (2) insert—

 

“(2A)    

The Secretary of State shall introduce regulations by statutory instrument

 

to facilitate actions by electoral registration officers, their agents and

 

others, including candidates and their agents in elections, to—

 

(a)    

prevent, and

 

(b)    

detect personation.”.’.

 


 

Other voting offences

 

John Hemming

 

Not called  NC2

 

To move the following Clause:—


 
 

Committee of the whole House Proceedings: 27 June 2012      

51

 

Electoral Registration and Administration Bill, continued

 
 

‘In section 61 of the Representation of the People Act 1983 (Other voting

 

offences) after subsection (6) insert—

 

“(6AA)    

The Secretary of State shall introduce regulations by statutory

 

instruments to facilitate actions by electoral registration officers, their

 

agents and others, including candidates and their agents in elections, to—

 

(a)    

prevent, and

 

(b)    

detect the offences listed in subsections (1) to (6).”.’.

 


 

Representation of the People Act 1985 (Amendment)

 

Geoffrey Clifton-Brown

 

Tony Baldry

 

Mr Gary Streeter

 

Mr Robert Buckland

 

Mr Robert Walter

 

Mr Greg Knight

 

Withdrawn  NC3

 

To move the following Clause:—

 

‘(1)    

The Representation of the People Act 1985 is amended as follows.

 

(2)    

In section 1 (Extension of parliamentary franchise) omit subsections (3)(c) and

 

(4)(a).

 

(3)    

In section 3 (Extension of franchise for European Parliamentary elections) omit

 

subsections (3)(c) and (4)(a).’.

 


 

Voting procedure

 

Mrs Eleanor Laing

 

Meg Munn

 

Mr David Blunkett

 

Bob Blackman

 

Mr Clive Betts

 

Meg Hillier

 

Wayne David                        

Angela Smith

 

Mr John Leech

 

Negatived on division  NC4

 

To move the following Clause:—

 

‘(1)    

Schedule 1 to the Representation of the People Act 1983 (c. 2) (parliamentary

 

elections rules) is amended as follows.

 

(2)    

In rule 37 (voting procedure) after paragraph (6) insert—

 

“(7)    

A voter who is in the polling station or in a queue outside the polling

 

station for the purpose of voting at the time specified for the close of the

 

poll shall be entitled to apply for a ballot paper under paragraph 1 above


 
 

Committee of the whole House Proceedings: 27 June 2012      

52

 

Electoral Registration and Administration Bill, continued

 
 

and a ballot paper shall be delivered and the voter entitled to vote in

 

accordance with this rule.”.’.

 


 

Explicit right of British citizens to register to vote and to participate in elections

 

Mr Richard Shepherd

 

Mr Philip Hollobone

 

James Wharton

 

Karl McCartney

 

Mr Stewart Jackson

 

Not called  NC5

 

To move the following Clause:—

 

‘(1)    

The Representation of the People Act 1983 is amended as follows—

 

(2)    

Insert “a British citizen,”

 

(a)    

in section 1 (parliamentary electors), in subsection (1)(c), after “either”,

 

(b)    

in section 2 (local government electors), in subsection (1)(C), after “is”,

 

(c)    

in section 4 (entitlement to be registered as parliamentary or local

 

government elector), in subsection (1)(c), after “either”,

 

(d)    

in section 4, subsection (3)(c), after “is”, and

 

(e)    

in section 7B, subsection (3)(e), after “is”, in the first place it occurs.’.

 


 

Ring-fencing of funds provided to local authorities for use by electoral registration

 

officers

 

Mr Mark Williams

 

Not called  NC6

 

Parliamentary Star    

To move the following Clause:—

 

‘Funds provided to local authorities for use by electoral registration officers in

 

respect of their obligations under Part 1 of this Act shall be used only for the

 

fulfilment of those obligations and for their compliance with the duties set out in

 

section 9A of the 1983 Act, as amended by Schedule 4 to this Act, and not for any

 

other purpose.’.

 


 

Clause 22 Agreed to.

 



 
 

Committee of the whole House Proceedings: 27 June 2012      

53

 

Electoral Registration and Administration Bill, continued

 
 

Wayne David

 

Angela Smith

 

Not called  41

 

Clause  23,  page  14,  line  6,  leave out from ‘means’ to end of line 11 and insert ‘the

 

Secretary of State’.

 

Clause Agreed to.

 

Clause 24 Agreed to.

 


 

Mr Wayne David

 

Angela Smith

 

Not called  30

 

Clause  25,  page  14,  line  17,  at end insert—

 

‘(1A)    

Before making an order under subsection 1, the Secretary of State must seek the

 

views of the Electoral Commission as to whether the establishment of an electoral

 

register made up solely of electors who have registered individually would help

 

or hinder the achievement of the registration objectives.

 

(1B)    

For these purposes the registration objectives are to secure, so far as is reasonably

 

practicable—

 

(a)    

that persons who are entitled to be registered in a register are registered

 

in it,

 

(b)    

that persons who are not entitled to be registered in a register are not

 

registered in it, and

 

(c)    

that none of the information relating to a registered person that appears

 

in a register or other record kept by a registration officer is false.

 

(1C)    

The Commission must submit its assessment, with a recommendation, in a report

 

to the Secretary of State, which must be laid before Parliament as soon as possible

 

by the Secretary of State.

 

(1D)    

If—

 

(a)    

the recommendation in the Electoral Commission’s report is that the

 

establishment of an electoral register made up solely of electors who have

 

registered individually would help the achievement of the registration

 

objectives, and

 

(b)    

the recommendation is approved by a resolution of each House of

 

Parliament,

 

    

the Secretary of State may make an order bringing Parts 1 and 2 of this Act into

 

force.

 

(1E)    

The Secretary of State may not make such an order if those conditions are not met.

 

(1F)    

If—

 

(a)    

the Electoral Commission’s report does not contain a recommendation to

 

proceed to establish an electoral register made up solely of electors who

 

have registered individually, or

 

(b)    

the report does contain such a recommendation, but it is not approved by

 

a resolution of each House of Parliament,

 

    

within 12 months after the day on which the report is submitted by the Electoral

 

Commission (in the case mentioned in paragraph (a)) or disapproved in

 

Parliament (in the case mentioned in paragraph (b)), the Secretary of State must

 

require the Commission to submit, by a specified date, a further report under this

 

section containing the terms mentioned in subsection (1A).


 
 

Committee of the whole House Proceedings: 27 June 2012      

54

 

Electoral Registration and Administration Bill, continued

 
 

(1G)    

For the purposes of subsection (1F)—

 

(a)    

a report is disapproved in Parliament when either House decided against

 

resolving to approve the report (or, if both Houses so decide on different

 

days, when the first of them so decides);

 

(b)    

the date specified by the Secretary of State must be at least one year, but

 

no more than two years, after the day on which the requirement under that

 

subsection is imposed.’.

 

Mr Wayne David

 

Angela Smith

 

Negatived on division  31

 

Clause  25,  page  14,  line  17,  at end insert ‘with the exception of Schedule 5, Part 2,

 

which shall come into force by order only once—

 

(a)    

the data matching pilots for pre-verification purposes established by the

 

Electoral Registration Data Schemes Order 2012 have been completed,

 

(b)    

the Electoral Commission has reported on these schemes as under the

 

terms of that Order, and

 

(c)    

the Electoral Commission believes that the completeness of the register

 

will not be negatively affected.’.

 

Wayne David

 

Angela Smith

 

Not called  43

 

Clause  25,  page  14,  line  17,  at end insert—

 

‘(1A)    

Parts 1 and 2 of this Act may not come into force until a timetable for the

 

provisions of orders made by Statutory Instrument is published.’.

 

Wayne David

 

Angela Smith

 

Not called  42

 

Clause  25,  page  14,  line  20,  leave out from ‘purposes’ to end of the line.

 

Clause Agreed to.

 

Clause 26 Agreed to.

 

Bill read the third time on division and passed.

 


 
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