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Session 2007 - 08 Publications on the internet General Committee Debates Political Parties and Elections Bill |
Political Parties and Elections Bill |
The Committee consisted of the following Members:Chris Shaw, Chris Stanton,
Committee Clerks attended
the Committee Public Bill CommitteeTuesday 18 November 2008(Afternoon)[Sir Nicholas Winterton in the Chair]Political Parties and Elections BillNew Clause 1Individual
voter registration (1) The
1983 Act is amended as
follows. (2) In section 10
(maintenance of registers: annual canvass), for subsections (4A) and
(4B) there is
substituted (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; (b) the date of
birth of each such person;
and (c) in relation to each
such person (i) his
national insurance number or a statement that he does not have
one, (ii) a statement of
whether or not he has been resident in the United Kingdom for the whole
of the three-month period ending on 15th October in the year in
question, and (iii) any address
in the United Kingdom in respect of which he is or has applied to be
registered (other than the address in respect of which the form is
completed), and the power in subsection (4) above to prescribe a form
includes power to give effect to the requirements of the
subsection. (4B) An electoral
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 incapacity of his or because he is
unable to read.. (3) In
section 10A (maintenance of registers: registration of
electors) (a) for
subsections (1A) and (1B) there is
substituted (1A)
Subject to subsection (1B) below, an application for registration in
respect of an address in the United Kingdom shall
include (a) the
signature of each of the persons to whom the application
relates; (b) the date of birth
of each such person; and (c) in
relation to each
person (i) his national
insurance number or a statement that he does not have
one, (ii) a
statement of whether or not he has been resident in the United Kingdom
for the whole of the three-month period ending on the date of the
application, and (iii)
any other address in the United Kingdom in respect of
which he is or has applied to be registered, and the power in
subsection (1) above to prescribe requirements includes power to give
effect to the requirements of this
subsection. (1B) An electoral
registration officer may dispense with the requirement mentioned in
subsection (1A)(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 incapacity of his or
because he is unable to read.,
(b) for subsection (5A) there is
substituted (5A)
A persons 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 virtue of
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.. (4) In
section 13A (alteration of registers), for subsections (2A) and (2B)
there is
substituted (2A)
Subject to subsection (2B) 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; (b) the date of birth
of each such person; and (c) in
relation to each such
person (i) his national
insurance number or a statement that he does not have
one, (ii) a
statement of whether or not he has been resident in the United Kingdom
for the whole of the three-month period ending on the date of the
application, and (iii) any
other address in the United Kingdom in respect of which he is or has
applied to be registered, and the power in subsection (1)(a) above to
prescribe requirements includes power to give effect to the
requirements of this
subsection. (2B) The Chief
Electoral Officer may dispense with the requirement mentioned in
subsection (2A)(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 incapacity of his or
because he is unable to
read..[Mrs.
Laing.] Brought
up, read the First time, and motion made [this
day], That the clause be read a Second
time. 4.30
pm
The
Chairman: I remind the Committee that with this it is
convenient to consider the following: amendment (a), in proposed new
subsection (4A)(c) to section 10, leave out sub-paragraph
(ii). Amendment
(b), in proposed new subsection (1A)(c) to section 10A, leave out
sub-paragraph
(ii). Amendment
(c), in proposed new subsection (2A)(c) to section 13A, leave out
sub-paragraph
(ii). New
clause 2Registration of British citizens
overseas In section 2
of the Representation of the People Act 1985 (c. 50)
(registration of British citizens overseas), after paragraph
(3)(b) there is
inserted (ba)
the declarants passport number or a statement that the
declarant does not have
one.. New
clause 7Opting in to the edited electoral
register (1)
The Representation of the People (England and Wales)
(Amendment) Regulations 2001 (SI 2001/341) is amended as
follows: (2) In regulation 93
(edited version of the register), for subsection (2) there is
substituted The
edited register shall include the name and address of any elector whose
details are included in the full register only if a request has been
expressly made in the form referred to in section 10(4) of the 1983 Act
or in accordance with Regulation 26 above by or on behalf of that
elector for his or her name and address to be included on the edited
register..
New clause
8Personal identifiers at the ballot
box (1)
The Representation of the People Act 1983
(the 1983 Act) Schedule 1 (Parliamentary
Election Rules) shall be amended as
follows. (2) The following
shall be inserted after Rule 27(1) (ballot paper to be delivered to
voter on
application) (1A)
A ballot paper shall not be delivered to a voter unless he has produced
a specified document to the presiding officer or a
clerk. (1B) Where a voter
produces a specified document, the presiding officer or clerk to whom
it is produced shall deliver a ballot paper to the voter unless the
officer or clerk decides that the document raises a reasonable doubt at
to whether the voter is the elector or proxy he represents himself to
be. (1C) Where a voter produces
a specified document to a presiding officer and he so decides, he shall
refuse to deliver a ballot paper to the
voter. (1D) Where a voter
produces a specified document to a clerk and he so decides, he shall
refer the matter and produce the document to the presiding officer who
shall proceed as if the document has been produced to him in the first
place. (1E) For the purposes of
this rule a specified document is one which for the time being falls
within the following
list (a)
a current passport issued by the government of the United Kingdom or by
the government of the Republic of
Ireland; (b)
a current licence to drive a motor vehicle granted
under Part III of the Road Traffic Act 1972 (or Part III of the Road
Traffic Act 1988) (including a provisional licence), or under Article
12 of the Road Traffic (Northern Ireland) Order 1981 or any
corresponding enactment for the time being in
force; (c) a credit or debit
card with signature; (d) HM
forces identification card; (e)
a medical card with signature on
it; (f) a local authority valid
bus pass with signature on
it; (g) a valid book for the
payment of allowances, benefits or pensions if it has a signature in
it; (h) a tenant book if it has
a signature in it; (i) a
certified copy, or extract, of an entry of marriage issued by a
Registrar General, where the voter producing the copy of an extract is
a woman married within the period of two years ending with the day of
the poll concerned. In
sub-paragraph (i) above a Registrar General means the
Registrar General for England and Wales, the Registrar General of
Births, Deaths and Marriages for Scotland or the Register General for
Northern Ireland, (1F)
Regulations may make provision varying the list in paragraph (1E) above
(whether by adding or deleting documents or varying any description of
document). (1G) References in
this rule to producing a document are to producing it for
inspection.. (3)
The following shall be inserted after Rule 38(1)
(incapacitated voters vote to be marked on ballot paper on
application) (1A)
Paragraphs (1A) to (1G) of Rule 37 shall apply in the case of a voter
who applies under paragraph (1) above as they apply in the case of a
voter who applies under Rule 37(1), but reading references to
delivering a ballot paper to a voter as references to causing a
voters vote to be marked on a ballot
paper.. (4) The
following shall be inserted after Rule 39(2) (blind voter to be allowed
assistance of companion on
application) (2A)
Paragraphs (1A) to (1G) of Rule 37 shall apply in the case of a voter
who applies under paragraph (1) above as they apply in the case of a
voter who applies under Rule 37(1), but reading references to
delivering a ballot paper to a voter as references to granting a
voters application..
(5) The following shall be inserted after Rule 40(1)
(person entitled to mark tendered ballot paper after another
has
voted) (1A)
Paragraphs (1A) to (1G) of Rule 37 shall apply in the case of a person
who seeks to mark a tendered ballot under paragraph (1) above as they
apply in the case of a voter who applies for a ballot paper under Rule
37(1). (1B)
Paragraph (1C) below applies where a presiding officer refuses to
deliver a ballot paper to a person under paragraph (1C) of
Rule 37 (including that paragraph as applied by Rule 38 or 39 or this
Rule). (1C) The person shall,
on satisfactorily answering the questions permitted by law to be asked
at the poll, nevertheless be entitled, subject to the following
provisions of this Rule, to mark a ballot paper (in these Rules
referred to as a tendered ballot paper) in the same
manner as any other
voter.. (6) The
following shall be inserted after Rule
40(4) (5) A
person who marks a tendered ballot paper under paragraph (1C) above
shall sign the paper, unless it was marked after an application was
refused under Rule 38 or
39. (6) A paper which is
required to be signed under paragraph (5) above and is not so signed
shall be
void.. Mrs.
Eleanor Laing (Epping Forest) (Con): This morning, we had
considerable argument, discussion and constructive consideration about
what has happened in Northern Ireland. However, I reiterate that we are
discussing not what should happen or has happened in Northern Ireland,
but what lessons are to be learned from Northern Ireland as a pilot for
what might happen throughout the rest of the United Kingdom.
As I was
saying at the end of the previous sitting, there are significant
differences between the situation in Northern Ireland and that in the
rest of the United Kingdom. For example, in Northern Ireland, the
carry-forward that previously applied was scrapped, which meant that a
number of people fell off the register when they failed to re-register,
as more than one Labour Member pointed out. The temporary reinstatement
of the carry-forward was responsible for some 70,000 people coming back
on to the register. That is an interesting illustration but the fact is
that what we propose in new clause 1 would not abolish the
carry-forward, so that problem would not
occur. In
Northern Ireland, the annual canvass was abolished. The annual canvass,
as we discussed earlier today, is an important tool to get people to
register, and its abolition would have prevented some eligible people
from re-registering. That is another lesson to be learned from what
happened in Northern Ireland. Again, we have no plans to scrap the
annual register. It is very important that there should be an annual
canvass and an annual register of voters. It is one way to encourage
people to vote and give them the opportunity to do
so. Before
the abolition of the household registration system electoral
registration in Northern Ireland was 96.6 per cent. That is
unrealistically high, by its very nature. Hon. Members look puzzled,
but that figure is unrealistically high. It would be miraculous if
proper registration were at that level.
Dr.
Alan Whitehead (Southampton, Test) (Lab): The hon. Lady
says that the figure is miraculous. The figure for North-West Hampshire
in 2003 was 103 per cent. of the 2001 census, and that for East
Hampshire was 103.1 per cent. Are those miraculous or
perhaps subject to some other
explanation?
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