Voter Registration and Participation

Thursday 14th November 2024 Lords Chamber

Question

11:07

Asked by

[Baroness Winterton of Doncaster]

To ask His Majesty’s Government what steps they are taking to increase voter registration and participation.

[The Parliamentary Under-Secretary of State, Ministry of Housing, Communities and Local Government (Lord Khan of Burnley) (Lab)]

My Lords, as set out in our manifesto, this Government are committed to improving electoral registration and democratic participation. We will lower the voting age to 16 for all UK elections to widen democratic participation and encourage a lifelong commitment to voting. We are also exploring options to improve registration, including using data and online services to facilitate registration and increase registration rates. Changes will be informed by evidence and user research.

[Baroness Winterton of Doncaster (Lab)]

I thank my noble friend the Minister for that Answer, especially regarding data sharing. Can he assure me that he will give serious consideration to the Electoral Commission’s recommendation that there should be a requirement on public bodies to share data with electoral administrators? Will he also look at allowing young people to use, for example, student cards and travel cards as ID when voting, following the very welcome change to the use of veteran cards?

[Lord Khan of Burnley (Lab)]

My noble friend makes an excellent point. We are exploring options to utilise data held by public bodies to encourage electoral registration, including what more can be done to enable electoral administrators to obtain local data. We are working with the Electoral Commission on this. On voter identification documents, as part of our commitment to expanding the voter franchise to 16 and 17 year-olds, we need to consider whether the requirements and patterns of ownership of identity documents for identification differ for younger voters. If we find that the list of accepted identification documents needs to be revised, the Government will bring forward proposals in due course.

[Lord Forsyth of Drumlean (Con)]

My Lords, does the Minister not acknowledge that one way to increase participation in elections is for Governments not to break the promises they make in the run-up to a general election—in particular by imposing taxes on working people, which they said they would not do?

[Lord Khan of Burnley (Lab)]

My Lords, we are delivering on our manifesto. On voter registration and increasing participation, the Government are committed to encouraging democratic engagement among all electors, including young people. That is why we will bring forward legislation for 16 and 17 year-olds to be able to vote in UK elections. This Government believe that by building a strong foundation for democratic participation among young people, we can establish voting habits that will continue as they grow older.

[Lord Patel of Bradford (Non-Afl)]

My Lords, I congratulate the Minister on all his efforts to ensure participation from local communities in Burnley. However, what are the Government doing in rural areas, where people have to travel long distances and transport and polling infrastructure are poor. How do we get young people there to vote?

[Lord Khan of Burnley (Lab)]

My Lords, the noble Lord makes an excellent point on the difference between urban and rural participation. My department, MHCLG, is working with other government departments to explore the potential use of their data and online services to help improve voter registration across all areas. Continued collaboration is essential to deliver the Government’s electoral reform agenda. We will work with academics, civil society groups, the Electoral Commission and the electoral sector across the country, particularly with local communities.

[The Lord Speaker (Lord McFall of Alcluith)]

My Lords, the noble Lord, Lord Campbell-Savours, is participating remotely.

[Lord Campbell-Savours (Lab) [V]]

My Lords, have we not wasted millions on a national scheme of individual registration to deal with a problem of fraud confined to only a few inner-city areas? Was not the real reason for the scheme’s implementation no more than a deliberate attempt by the then Government to suppress the vote in disadvantaged, transient communities in Labour inner-city areas? Ministers should read the debate of 8 September 2020 on the Parliamentary Constituencies Bill, where deficiencies in electoral registration were fully exposed. We need to increase the vote, not spend money decreasing it.

[Lord Khan of Burnley (Lab)]

I note my noble friend’s important points, but I assure him that the Government are committed to improving electoral registration and addressing low registration rates among various groups in society. We will examine different approaches and use the experience of other countries to inform our decisions.

[Baroness Scott of Bybrook (Con)]

My Lords, we welcome the inclusion of the Armed Forces veteran card for use as voter ID but note that there will be a further review. Can the Minister assure the House that the integrity of the ballot box will be maintained in any future changes that the Government make?

[Lord Khan of Burnley (Lab)]

I thank the noble Baroness for making the point about the addition of the Armed Forces veteran card to the list of accepted documents for voter ID. On her very direct question, yes—it is in our manifesto.

[Lord Rennard (LD)]

My Lords, only 65% of 18 to 25 year-olds are registered to vote, compared with more than 95% of the over-65s. Will the Government now act urgently on the unanimous cross-party recommendation of this House’s Select Committee on electoral administration in 2013, and begin the process of automatically registering young people to vote when they are issued with their national insurance numbers and the DWP has checked on their nationality?

[Lord Khan of Burnley (Lab)]

My Lords, the noble Lord makes an interesting point and I have had the great pleasure of working with him on various SIs and, in particular, on the Elections Act 2022. The Government will explore all options to ensure that we increase voter participation. We believe that, by building a strong foundation of democratic participation among young people, we will establish voting habits that continue as they grow older. It is about delivering long-lasting, positive consequences for our democracy and building an informed and engaged electorate for the future. In the meantime, we are working on these issues and will bring proposals to the House.

[Lord Wigley (PC)]

My Lords, on voter participation, does the Minister recognise that a gross disservice to democracy has been perpetrated by all political parties—I am afraid I include my own—that base their election canvassing on so-called voter modelling algorithms and social profiling? They aim at getting only identified party supporters to turn out and leaving other voters undisturbed. Is it any surprise that there is a cynicism towards politics? Will the Government give serious consideration to adopting the STV system, in which every vote counts, to encourage inclusivity in our democratic processes?

[Lord Khan of Burnley (Lab)]

My Lords, there was a lot stacked in the noble Lord’s question, but he makes an interesting point. I single out that turnout at the 2024 general election was 59.7%, which was the lowest since 2001. It was 7.6 percentage points lower than in 2019, so there is an issue with increasing voter participation but also an apathy with politics. The Prime Minister was very determined, as he started his premiership, to make sure that we reach out across all parts of our electoral system to ensure that people feel confident to get involved and participate in the system.

[Lord Reid of Cardowan (Lab)]

My Lords, in this digital age, is it not a disgrace that we depend on displaying rail cards, bus cards, Armed Forces cards and all sorts of other cards to combat fraud? Is the answer not staring us in the face? In this digital age, we should have digital ID and digital ID cards, without which we will not be able to tackle voter fraud, far less black employment, immigration or counterterrorism. Will the Government finally at least consider the use of digital ID?

[Lord Khan of Burnley (Lab)]

I thank the noble Lord for making that very important point. He alludes to the use of technology and the digitalisation of the process, but I remind the House that technology already plays a part in the smooth running of the UK’s election registration infrastructure. The noble Lord is talking about ID to help voting, but there is a range of ways in which technology could be part of measures to improve the whole process. The Government will thoroughly explore the viability of every avenue to achieve that goal. Any new measures will be rigorously tested and will take the accessibility and diverse needs of different groups of people into account, so that all those eligible to vote are able to register.