General Election: Postal Voting Fraud

Lord Lexden Excerpts

Thursday 4th June 2015 Lords Chamber

Asked by

[Lord Lexden]

To ask Her Majesty’s Government what assessment they have made of the extent of postal voting fraud at the recent general election.

[Baroness Chisholm of Owlpen (Con)]

My Lords, the Government are not aware of any issues in relation to postal voting at the recent general election, although no formal assessment has been made. The Electoral Commission will produce a report on the general election in the coming months, which will include any concerns around the use of postal votes at the general election. A range of measures is in place to combat electoral fraud in the UK.

[Lord Lexden (Con)]

Do the Government agree with Mr Nazir Afzal, the former chief crown prosecutor for north-west England, who said last month:

“One of the big problems is that victims who have their votes”,


stolen or,

“taken from them won’t come forward … We need the police to be much more proactive”?

He added that consideration should be given to establishing,

“a national, high-profile police hotline”.

Will the Government also ensure that the large number of complaints by registered overseas electors who failed to receive the postal votes for which they applied are fully investigated and the results made public?

[Baroness Chisholm of Owlpen]

My Lords, we are in the early stages of a discussion with the Electoral Commission about how to take forward the manifesto commitment to ensure that it puts greater priority on tackling fraud. Obviously, all these issues will be considered in that discussion. On my noble friend’s second point concerning overseas voters, for the 2015 general election—as with future general elections—postal votes were able to be sent out as soon as practicable, 19 working days before the day of poll. These changes were made specifically to meet the needs of overseas voters.