Postponement of Local Elections (Northern Ireland) Order 2023

Debate between Lord Browne of Belmont and Lord Hay of Ballyore

Wednesday 22nd February 2023 Grand Committee

[Lord Browne of Belmont (DUP)]

My Lords, I am pleased to rise in support of this order. I have to admit I am old enough to remember the Coronation of Queen Elizabeth II in June 1953—

[Lord Hay of Ballyore (DUP)]

When you were eight or nine?

[Lord Browne of Belmont (DUP)]

I was a small boy. I remember crowding into a small room in the house of a neighbour, who had invested in one of the first television sets in the street. I caught a rather blurred image of the Gold State Coach; much to my delight, my neighbour gave me a small toy replica of it. Those are happy memories.

It is only right to delay the local council elections in Northern Ireland as this will afford the people of Northern Ireland, along with the rest of the United Kingdom, an opportunity to join in the celebrations and events that follow the Coronation of King Charles III without having their TV coverage interrupted by the results of the later stages of the count, which, as we know, can take a considerable number of days.

As the Minister stated, the chief electoral officer, Virginia McVea, is stepping down ahead of the May local elections; I know that the post has been advertised. She has worked extremely well with all the political parties in Northern Ireland. She has been very effective and has helped greatly in improving every aspect of the election process—especially as it is a complicated single transferrable vote system. I am sure that we all wish her well in her new post here in England. I know that the position has been advertised, but will the new chief electoral officer be in post well before the May elections so as to give them a reasonable lead-in time?

A recent report on the May 2022 Assembly elections in Northern Ireland showed that most people were confident that the election was well run. However, there was a concern that the large number of postal and proxy applications rejected due to a missing digital registration number indicates that there may be a barrier to some voters. Does the Minister agree that the Government should undertake a review of the operation of the digital registration number? Have the Government looked at using some form of technology for these votes to try to speed up the counting?

I welcome this order. I am sure that many people in Northern Ireland will partake in the celebrations that follow the Coronation and have lasting memories of the great pageantry of the occasion, as it is unlikely to be seen until the next jubilee or Coronation.

[Lord Hay of Ballyore (DUP)]

My Lords, like my noble friend Lord Browne, I welcome the draft order before the Committee, which will allow the people of Northern Ireland to celebrate the Coronation of King Charles III. It is something that I very much welcome; I know that people in Northern Ireland do too.

I want to follow up on what my noble friend Lord Browne said about elections in Northern Ireland generally; I indicated this to the Minister before this afternoon. We know that, in the rest of the United Kingdom, the counting of votes starts after the polling stations close that evening. In Northern Ireland, the count starts the next day. I know from history and from fighting elections for over 40 years about the complex issue of proportional representation elections, but I still do not understand the system when I go into a count.