Draft Donations to Candidates (Anonymous Registration) Regulations 2014
Draft European Parliamentary Elections (Anonymous Registration) (Northern Ireland) Regulations 2014
Draft Representation of the People (Northern Ireland) (Amendment) Regulations 2014
Draft Northern Ireland Assembly (Elections) (Amendment) Order 2014
Draft Anonymous Registration (Northern Ireland) (No. 2) Order 2014
The Committee consisted of the following Members:
† Blenkinsop, Tom (Middlesbrough South and East Cleveland) (Lab)
Denham, Mr John (Southampton, Itchen) (Lab)
† Field, Mr Frank (Birkenhead) (Lab)
Gilbert, Stephen (St Austell and Newquay) (LD)
† Gillan, Mrs Cheryl (Chesham and Amersham) (Con)
† Hart, Simon (Carmarthen West and South Pembrokeshire) (Con)
† Lloyd, Stephen (Eastbourne) (LD)
† Luff, Sir Peter (Mid Worcestershire) (Con)
Neill, Robert (Bromley and Chislehurst) (Con)
O'Donnell, Fiona (East Lothian) (Lab)
† Pound, Stephen (Ealing North) (Lab)
† Raynsford, Mr Nick (Greenwich and Woolwich) (Lab)
Reevell, Simon (Dewsbury) (Con)
† Robathan, Mr Andrew (Minister of State, Northern Ireland Office)
Shannon, Jim (Strangford) (DUP)
Smith, Mr Andrew (Oxford East) (Lab)
† Swayne, Mr Desmond (Vice-Chamberlain of Her Majesty's Household)
† Walker, Mr Robin (Worcester) (Con)
Anne-Marie Griffiths, Committee Clerk
† attended the Committee
Twelfth Delegated Legislation Committee
Thursday 3 July 2014
[Annette Brooke in the Chair]
Draft Donations to Candidates (Anonymous Registration) Regulations 2014
11.30 am
The Minister of State, Northern Ireland Office (Mr Andrew Robathan): I beg to move,
That the Committee has considered the draft Donations to Candidates (Anonymous Registration) Regulations 2014.
The Chair: With this it will be convenient to consider the draft European Parliamentary Elections (Anonymous Registration) (Northern Ireland) Regulations 2014, the draft Representation of the People (Northern Ireland) (Amendment) Regulations 2014, the draft Northern Ireland Assembly (Elections) (Amendment) Order 2014 and the draft Anonymous Registration (Northern Ireland) (No. 2) Order 2014.
I ask the Committee to note that, when we get to the end, a separate vote will be taken on each measure.
Mr Robathan: It is a beautiful day outside and here we are inside, but I am still delighted to serve under your chairmanship, Mrs Brooke.
Anonymous registration allows a person who is at risk to register to vote without their name and address being included on the electoral register. The introduction of anonymous registration to Northern Ireland was debated in March, when we brought forward the first piece of legislation in the series. The five instruments before the Committee help to complete the process. Collectively, they apply the provisions introduced earlier this year across all elections in Northern Ireland and make additional amendments to ensure that the system of anonymous registration works effectively. I will briefly describe the key aspects of each of the instruments.
The draft Anonymous Registration (Northern Ireland) (No. 2) Order 2014 makes minor and technical amendments to ensure that there is clarity for the anonymous registration process in relation to postal proxy voters and tendered postal ballot papers, which were introduced in the first order. The amendments ensure that the procedures for proxy postal voters and tendered postal ballot papers are consistent across all elections.
The draft Donations to Candidates (Anonymous Registration) Regulations 2014 relate to donations to candidates at parliamentary elections. They provide that, where a donor is making a donation to a candidate and that donor is anonymously registered, a certificate of anonymous registration issued in the UK will be treated as evidence that an individual has made an anonymous entry in the electoral register.
The draft European Parliamentary Elections (Anonymous Registration) (Northern Ireland) Regulations 2014 implement the system of anonymous registration in respect of European parliamentary elections in Northern Ireland and they mirror the provisions for parliamentary
and local elections. The draft Northern Ireland Assembly (Elections) (Amendment) Order 2014 makes amendments to ensure that the newly amended provisions on anonymous registration will work for Northern Ireland Assembly elections.Finally, the draft Representation of the People (Northern Ireland) (Amendment) Regulations 2014 implement anonymous registration for UK parliamentary elections in Northern Ireland. The amendments to electoral registration will also apply to local and Northern Ireland Assembly elections. The regulations specify how applications for anonymous registration should be made and determined, the relevant court orders and injunctions that can be used to support an application, and the individuals who can provide attestations in support of anonymous registration applications.
To ensure full understanding of the introduction of anonymous registration, we will continue to work with the chief electoral officer, the Police Service of Northern Ireland and the Electoral Commission during the summer, before the scheme comes into force on 15 September this year. I hope that hon. Members will agree that it is important to complete the package of legislation necessary to introduce anonymous registration across all elections in Northern Ireland. Anonymous registration will allow vulnerable people to exercise their right to vote without fear or threat to their safety. I commend these instruments to the Committee.
11.34 am
Stephen Pound (Ealing North) (Lab): Thank you, Mrs Brooke. May I endorse the comments made by the Minister about our appreciation for your chairing of today’s sitting? There may be better ways for a man to spend his birthday, but I cannot think of one immediately. However, as I share my birthday with Julian Assange, I am reassured by the fact that he has a rather less pleasant view and rather less pleasant company than I have today.
It would be remiss of us not to mention the statement made in the other place, and in the Commons this morning by the Secretary of State, regarding the Northern Ireland economic pact. If there is one thing that overarches everything that we are doing today and that we have done in previous statutory instruments on this subject, it is the move towards normalisation and harmonisation.
It is extremely important to record, formally, the fact that the Secretary of State met the First Minister, the Deputy First Minister and our Prime Minister yesterday in the economic summit and made an agreement on future progress, including such issues as corporation tax, the freeing up of Ministry of Defence property to be provided to the Northern Ireland Housing Executive, and many other issues. We must not allow the move towards harmonisation and normalisation to be derailed or stopped.
On the subject of derailing, we should offer our sympathy to the noble Baroness Randerson, who wished to move an equivalent statutory instrument in the other place but, due to a fatality on the Cardiff main line, was unable to attend the Grand Committee. I am sure we would all wish to express our appreciation to Lord Wallace of Saltaire, who some of us remember from this place, for moving that SI on her behalf.
It will be salutary to pick up on some of the points made by Lord Alderdice during the Lords debate. On anonymous registration, he felt that there was an issue regarding racist attacks on people with names that could be identified as being from a particular ethnicity or grouping. However, he was persuaded that the harmonisation with the rest of the United Kingdom overrode that particular concern. He was backed by the noble Lord McAvoy in asking for the matter to be kept under scrutiny, particularly in respect of the consequences for and effects on the 2015 elections. I ask the Minister to consider how Her Majesty’s Government will operate a watching brief over the operation of the measure. I entirely accept that this is a technical, tidying up and, to a certain extent, minor provision. However, once we start this crucial process, we need to be careful to monitor it.
The issue of donations, which is different from registrations, was also raised in the other place. I understand that the intention is still to bring greater transparency about the origin of donations. We seek more details about that, as we seem to have been discussing the matter for an extremely long time. I entirely understand the sensitivities, but while we are dealing with a wash-up series of SIs, it is important that we look forward to that issue.
Concerns about anonymous registrations, in relation to jury service and various other issues, have been responded to. Opposition Members are content with the statements made by the Chief Electoral Officer and the Courts Service. We feel that the matter has been addressed and is being dealt with sensibly and seriously.
The Minister rightly raised the important point of the disparity in registration periods between Great Britain and Northern Ireland. It is interesting to see that his influence spreads far beyond his brief; service registrations are now being extended to five years, which was one of the original points that we made in the interests of harmonisation. Service postal voting registration should be extended so that both are at either five years or a lower number. We are pleased to see that extension and we thank the Minister for his comments.
I am sorry to be slightly less complimentary, but I am still not entirely convinced—nor are my colleagues—by the range of professionals involved during the anonymisation of electoral registration. Last time we discussed the issue, we quoted the Women’s Aid Federation Northern Ireland on the issue of domestic violence. We felt that social services, police and other professionals should be involved and able to be the attesting officers. We talked about the assistant director of social work being at the appropriate level.
I understand that the Minister has considered the matter and am sure that it is being considered by his ever-efficient and capable officials, but I have not been able to locate evidence of that myself. If it has simply become part of the new legislation, I will be interested to know where we are going with attestation. I understand that the Government do not think it necessary for an individual to meet the director of social work or a PSNI inspector in person. However, I would think that someone of about that seniority should effectively be able to sign off where evidence is given.
I asked the Minister on the last occasion we met—as ever, it was pleasant and delightful, although not my birthday—about the impact of anonymous registration
on the witness protection programme. I felt that that was a concern and he said that he would come back to me. I am sure that he has and that it is incompetence in my office that has failed to identify the relevant document, but I would be extremely grateful if he were kind enough to let me have another copy.The anonymous registration regulations have an impact on donations to candidates, as someone who wants to give a political donation clearly needs to be on the electoral register. The Government have got it right on that, in particular with regard to the retrospective principle. However, as has been raised, we need to consider the issue in the context of transparency in the funding of political parties. It is ever the fact that the law of unintended consequences sometimes means that different areas of legislation are affected. I hope we all agree about the significance, importance and sanity of anonymous registrations, but the issue of donations to candidates needs to be considered.
My noble Friend Lord McAvoy, a man of great knowledge who impressed many of us during his years in the darkness as deputy Chief Whip—
Mr Robathan: For about 10 years.
Stephen Pound: The Minister interjects briefly. I am sure that he knows that Lord McAvoy and my right hon. Friend the Member for Kirkcaldy and Cowdenbeath (Mr Brown) were the only two people to have stayed in the Cabinet all the way from 1997 to 2010—and what an excellent job they did.
Lord McAvoy was concerned that there appeared to be a slight lack of activity on the part of the Minister, so he asked for a report on everything that the Northern Ireland Office has done since the last statutory instrument was considered. We understand and appreciate—without applauding—the enthusiasm he expressed, but we will not on this occasion join him in his demand for a complete end-of-term report on everything done in the NIO. I suspect that we might not get it and, as we come into July, we are approaching a sensitive and difficult time of year. Frankly, the Minister, his officials, the PSNI and everyone concerned with the peace process in Northern Ireland have far more important things to do.
We face a difficult summer. With God’s grace, I hope that we can get through it and that this package of tidying-up legislation will go some way towards securing the two principles I enunciated at the beginning: harmonisation and normalisation. The Opposition support the five statutory instruments and will not seek to divide the Committee.
11.43 am
Stephen Lloyd (Eastbourne) (LD): It is a pleasure to serve under your chairmanship, Mrs Brooke. I rise to make a small contribution from my party’s perspective. Like the Opposition, we support the Government’s tidying-up exercise in these five statutory instruments. I want to put on the record that, as I have a good personal understanding of Northern Ireland, I wholly appreciate why, sadly, we still have to make registration for elections and political donations anonymous. However, I would like to see that kept constantly under review, because we have a chicken and egg situation.
I understand the need for anonymity, but that will never change until a Government decide, at an appropriate time, with cross-party agreement, to make a change and step out of the dark. That might sound naive, but it really is not. I have been around a long time and I wholly appreciate why we are still in this position, but we must never take solace in simply doing nothing; if we do that, the bad people win.
As the regulations go through, I would like the Government to keep them under constant review. They should not necessarily stick arbitrarily to the five-year time frame, depending on how things change in Northern Ireland. It is sometimes far easier to do absolutely nothing than to take a risk; I am fully aware of the Minister’s military background, so I know that he understands more than most where I am coming from. I look forward to the day—I will still be in the House, I hope—when a Statutory Instrument Committee agrees to junk these orders, so that Northern Ireland can join the rest of the United Kingdom and behave in a properly democratic manner.
11.45 am
Mr Robathan: I thank the hon. Members for Ealing North and for Eastbourne. To pick up on what the hon. Member for Eastbourne said, we are heading as far as possible towards a normal situation in Northern Ireland, with elections as with other things. In particular, this type of anonymous registration is more in line with what happens in the rest of the UK. The reasons for anonymous registration in Northern Ireland are often related to safety and the past, which remains pretty raw. In Great Britain, anonymous registration is typically about domestic disputes.
The PSNI expects there to be 2,000 anonymous registrations. That is not a huge number; it amounts to 0.16% of the electorate. We do not think it is going to be a huge matter.
I will take up the points made by the hon. Member for Ealing North, in no particular order. He talked about a lack of activity mentioned by Lord McAvoy. I think the noble Lord was slightly mistaken; I have read his speech. The Northern Ireland (Miscellaneous Provisions) Act 2014 passed into law only in March, and these SIs were being discussed in June, so by the standards of this place we have been rather swift, I would say.
Stephen Pound: Lord McAvoy’s exact wording was:
“I hope that I am not being unfair to the Minister…but can he undertake to give us in writing a summary of what Northern Ireland Office Ministers have been doing over the past year? We need a picture of the Secretary of State’s engagement, if any”—[Official Report, House of Lords, 30 June 2014; Vol. 754, c. GC206.]
Mr Robathan: The hon. Gentleman tempts me to make some facetious comments about the lack of activity. It would take far too long and waste too much paper to provide what the noble Lord asks for, but we do stay on top of matters.
I was delighted to hear the hon. Gentleman say that the Government have got something right. That is not like him. However, when it comes to Northern Ireland, we tend to move forward on a consensual basis.
Donations have been mentioned. The question of anonymous donations is not included in these SIs; the regulations are about anonymous voters being allowed to make donations. In January, we started a full public consultation on the anonymity of donations. Members will remember that the matter was discussed in the Northern Ireland (Miscellaneous Provisions) Bill Committee. We have said that the measure will not be retrospective; anybody who has made a donation believing it to be anonymous will not have their name revealed. That is only fair. We wish to move to a situation in which all donations are transparent. We expect to bring forward legislation later this year, but that is still being considered.
I agree with the hon. Gentleman, who raised the issue of the update of the economic pact, that the normality of Northern Ireland is more likely to be achieved with proper economic prosperity. That takes people beyond the insular view that can come from sectarian division, or whatever, and provides jobs so that people are prosperous and do not wish to disrupt economic activity or other people’s lives in the Province.
The hon. Gentleman mentioned hate attacks. I entirely agree with what he said, although I do not think it particularly pertinent to anonymous registration. We certainly will keep the whole issue under review, working with the chief electoral officer and the Electoral Commission, both of whom I met recently.
Finally, it only remains for me to wish the hon. Member for Ealing North a happy birthday. [Hon. Members: “Hear, hear!”] I hope he has a much happier birthday than Mr Assange, who, I understand, is boring the staff of the Ecuadorean embassy to bits and has been doing so now for a couple of years.
draft European Parliamentary Elections (Anonymous Registration) (Northern Ireland) Regulations 2014
That the Committee has considered the draft European Parliamentary Elections (Anonymous Registration) (Northern Ireland) Regulations 2014.—(Mr Robathan.)
draft Representation of the People (Northern Ireland) (Amendment) Regulations 2014
That the Committee has considered the draft Representation of the People (Northern Ireland) (Amendment) Regulations 2014.—(Mr Robathan.)
draft Northern Ireland Assembly (Elections) (Amendment) Order 2014
That the Committee has considered the draft Northern Ireland Assembly (Elections) (Amendment) Order 2014.—(Mr Robathan.)
draft Anonymous Registration (Northern Ireland) (No. 2) Order 2014
That the Committee has considered the draft Anonymous Registration (Northern Ireland) (No. 2) Order 2014.—(Mr Robathan.)