HC 1463

Written evidence submitted by The Labour Party (EA 38)

I write in response to your committee's call for evidence on the Government's proposals on electoral administration.

In July the Government published draft provisions to:

· extend the electoral timetable for UK Parliamentary elections from 17 to 25 working days and, in doing so, adjust a number of the deadlines within the timetable (in particular the date for delivery of nominations) which are fixed to the start of the electoral timetable;

· make changes to the timing of polling place reviews in Great Britain;

· enable a UK Parliamentary election candidate jointly nominated by two or more registered political parties to use on the ballot paper an emblem registered by one of the nominating parties.

In addition, the Government has recently said that it is exploring a possible change to the deadline for appointing polling and counting agents at an election. Currently, the deadline is 2 working days in advance of polling day. The Government is considering moving that deadline to 5 working days before the date of the poll.

I would like to take this opportunity to respond to this latest proposal, as well as to the other draft provisions being considered:

Deadline for polling and counting agents

The Labour Party is opposed to the proposal to extend the deadline for appointing polling and counting agents to five working days. We believe that this would make it more difficult for political parties to identify and organise volunteers to fulfil these roles. In common with all other political parties, the Labour Party relies upon unpaid volunteers, which includes our polling and counting agents. Very often these volunteers are in full time employment and are not able to commit very far in advance to taking time off work to undertake political activities. A five day deadline would therefore make it more difficult to organise volunteers to perform these roles, especially in the context of an election when individuals are already giving up large amounts of their own time. It is our opinion that there should not be a change from the current two day deadline.

Extension of the timetable for UK general elections

The Labour Party does not object to the proposal to extend the timetable from 17 to 25 working days, though consideration may need to be given as to whether political expenditure limits require a consequential adjustment. In relation to the issue of postal vote applications, which has been raised in this context, we agree with the Government that the deadline for applications should remain at 11 days before polling day.

Timing of polling place reviews

While the Labour Party does not object to integrating polling place reviews with electoral timetables, the Party does not agree with the proposal to create a five-year fixed term parliamentary cycle - believing four years to be a preferable period for fixed terms.

Furthermore, the Labour Party believes the five-yearly fixed timetable for boundary reviews, introduced by the Parliamentary Voting Systems and Constituencies Act, is a mistake which will lead to unnecessary disruption of parliamentary constituencies and will prove unsustainable over time.

Ballot papers and emblems

The Labour Party welcomes the proposal to enable a UK Parliamentary election candidate jointly nominated by two or more registered political parties to use on the ballot paper an emblem registered by one of the nominating parties.

I hope this information is useful to the committee in its deliberation on the Government's proposals.

7 October 2011