Licensing Act 2003 (Coronation Licensing Hours) Order 2023
Lord Rennard Excerpts(1 year, 6 months ago)
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Baroness McIntosh of Pickering (Con)
My Lords, I warmly welcome this order. This is a very appropriate opportunity to raise a glass in the way that my noble friend suggested. We looked very closely at the issuing of licences under the original ad hoc committee on the Licensing Act 2003 and the follow-up inquiry and continue to take a close interest in that.
I am not suggesting that it should be extended, but what is the thinking behind applying the extension to three days only and not to the bank holiday Monday?
If I have understood correctly, the fee has been kept at £21. That is very welcome, as it is mindful of the constraints under which the licensed premises operate. One reason why this is an excellent idea is to recognise what a hard time our hospitality sector has had coming out of Covid.
I think all of us look forward to supporting the industry in this way to the best of our ability—within moderation, obviously.
Lord Rennard (LD)
My Lords, I looked at the 2003 legislation, which permits such variation as proposed here, and noted, as the Minister did, that such relaxation is allowed to mark occasions of “exceptional national significance”. Even the most ardent republican could hardly argue that the Coronation this year will not be an exceptional event or matter of national significance. In fact, no one in this country under the age of 70 has been alive while there has been a Coronation, so it must fulfil that criterion. I will raise a couple of questions about the consultation process and perhaps go a little wider than this immediate measure.
First, in relation to this measure, I query whether it remains sensible for things such as this to be considered as part of the brief of the alcohol policy team at the Home Office. Given concerns about alcohol misuse, would it not be more appropriate for it to be handled by the Department of Health and Social Care rather than the Home Office?
Of course, I recognise that a number of stakeholders are involved in such a consultation, but it seems to me that some sort of qualitative analysis is needed rather than a quantitative one. I noted that around 50 responses were received. We are told that 37 or so were in favour and 11 were against. You could say that this means that 75% support it, so we should too, but I do not think that is a very good way, in public policy terms, of handling a consultation. The consultation is rather smaller in scale than that for the previous subject we discussed, which was on the microchipping cats and dogs. For that, there were 33,000 responses, but for the issue of these licences there were 50. It seems to me that, in considering a consultation on such issues, we should look at where the various stakeholders may be coming from—for example, the hospitality industry, the police and security, and health services. The Government engaged a very good list of consultees, but to answer every point with “Yes” or “No”, “For” or “Against”, with only one open question, does not really deal with the nub of the issues.
It would, perhaps, make more sense to list the responses from the hospitality industry about whether it welcomes this as a boost after a particularly hard two or three years or whether it thinks that it would cause problems for its staff. We perhaps need to hear separately from the police and those involved with neighbourhood policing issues about whether they consider it appropriate. We would also like to hear from the Department of Health and Social Care, trade associations concerned with beer, pubs, wine and spirits, and groups such as the Institute of Alcohol Studies and Alcoholics Anonymous about any consequences that they might see. That might help us form a better approach to assessing whether this is an appropriate measure. However, I certainly think it is, and it has my full support.
Passports: Strike Action and Voter ID
Lord Rennard Excerpts(1 year, 7 months ago)
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Lord Rennard
To ask His Majesty’s Government (1) what assessment they have made of the effect of strike action in April on passport applications and (2) what steps they will take to ensure that those with delayed applications will not be prevented from voting in elections on 4 May.
The Parliamentary Under-Secretary of State, Home Office (Lord Murray of Blidworth) (Con)
My Lords, His Majesty’s Passport Office is working to manage the impact of the strike action. We have comprehensive contingency plans. There are currently no plans to change the published processing times for passports in response to the proposed strike action.
A passport is only one form of identification which is acceptable for voting purposes. The full list can be found on the government website. The public do not need a passport to be able to vote. This strike action should not have any impact on people being able to vote in May.
Lord Rennard (LD)
The current 10-week delay in passport applications is frustrating for travellers. The five-week strike will cause further problems. It will also reduce the number of people who have one of the specified forms of photo ID to let them vote if they have elections on 4 May. The uptake of local authority voter ID cards has been pathetic. During debates on the then Elections Bill, Ministers referred frequently to the Post Office’s ID requirements for collecting a parcel. Will the Government now consider allowing the forms of ID that are accepted by the Post Office, including bank cards or utility bills, to be used for voting, or are they really trying to suppress the vote?
Lord Murray of Blidworth (Con)
The noble Lord asked two questions. First, in relation to the Passport Office, the department remains confident that the 10-week service standard for the return of passports will continue to be met. As the Minister with superintendence of the Passport Office, I have been very proud of the work that it and its excellent staff have done in recovering from the massive surge in applications which followed the Covid pandemic. The Passport Office remains fully resourced, following a significant increase of more than 1,200 staff between April 2021 and last summer. Last week, 99.6% of standard UK passport applications were processed within 10 weeks. More than 2.2 million applications have been processed in 2023.
I turn to the issue in relation to voting. As I have already said, a passport is only one form of ID which is acceptable for voting purposes. Expired forms of identification will be accepted, as long as the photograph is a good enough likeness. We estimate that around 80% of the eligible voting population hold a valid UK passport. This increases to around 85% when those whose passport has recently expired are included. On the basis that such a high proportion of voters hold a valid or recently expired passport, we do not plan to change our processing times. As the noble Lord has observed, anyone eligible to vote who does not have an acceptable form of photographic identification can apply for a free voter authority certificate.
Lord Murray of Blidworth (Con)
Well, of course, elections fall within the Department for Levelling Up, Housing and Communities rather than the Home Office, but I am delighted to make that inquiry and write to him, and deposit the answer in the Library of the House.
Lord Rennard (LD)
My Lords, following the question from the noble Lord, Lord Lexden, is the Minister aware of the different political culture in Northern Ireland, and the fact that in the 1983 general election there were clear justifications for the introduction of some form of ID? There has been no such justification in Great Britain. The returning officer for Northern Ireland said that, after the introduction, it took at least 10 years for turnout levels to return to their previous levels, as a result of the introduction of ID. The Minister read a list; as a canvasser, I would not be able to read out that list to everyone on the doorstep—but the Post Office list is a very good list and it would extend the right to vote to many more people.
Lord Murray of Blidworth (Con)
I am afraid that I do not accept that there is no need for the voter identification provisions. In any event, as I say, those matters have been approved by the other place and by this House—so that, I am afraid, is that.
Queen’s Speech
Lord Rennard Excerpts(2 years, 6 months ago)
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Lord Rennard (LD)
My Lords, this is a Government who have devalued many of the democratic principles that underpin our constitution. The claim that
“Her Majesty’s Government will ensure the constitution is defended”
is one of which we should all be sceptical. Crucial to our constitution is the maintenance of balance between the powers of the Executive and the legislature. Perhaps not since Charles I has the Executive branch of government sought in peacetime to curb the powers of Parliament and to remove so many of the checks and balances in our constitution.
We saw this in the way Parliament was declared to be prorogued in 2019, illegally and dishonestly, in a clear attempt to avoid proper parliamentary scrutiny of what has turned out to be a terrible Brexit deal. We saw it in the way that courts and individual judges could be challenged for upholding the law concerning Parliament’s role in triggering Brexit, and in the failure of the Government to defend the independence of those judges from attack by their media allies. We saw it in the last Session, with government Ministers taking effective control of the previously properly independent Electoral Commission.
The Prime Minister has also changed the election rules so that he can choose when to fire the starting gun in a race in which he is competing. The next general election will be fought on constituency boundaries using electoral registers that exclude around 15% of the people who should be included on them. This does not just deprive many people of the opportunity to vote; it means that more Conservative-leaning seats are being created by the Boundary Commissions and fewer seats are created where they are less likely to win.
The most obvious methods of getting everyone entitled to vote on to the electoral registers and enabled to vote are ignored, while new barriers are being put in the way of the 2.2 million who do not have the government-prescribed forms of photo ID. Unsurprisingly, the 2.2 million are less likely to vote Conservative and, based on the initial introduction of photo ID in Northern Ireland, 1 million people on the voting registers may be unable to vote at the next general election.
The Government also appear to be acting to block legitimate freedom of information requests, with a special unit advising on how to try to dodge replying. I will give an example. I and most opposition parties were suspicious about the basis of a sudden government ban on volunteers delivering leaflets in the run-up to last year’s elections. It was strange that the then Minister for the Constitution suddenly announced the ban a year into the Covid pandemic, the nature of which must have changed suddenly for a dramatic change to the rules governing elections to take place. The ban on volunteers delivering leaflets primarily affected the opposition parties. There was no equivalent ban on existing commercial organisations distributing leaflets, primarily used by the Conservative Party.
Frequent Parliamentary Questions sought evidence to justify the strange distinction between different forms of campaigning that had similar levels of risk. But no evidence from any source based on scientific, medical or health advice was ever produced, so I turned to making a freedom of information request for this evidence in January 2021. Fifteen months after I made it, the Cabinet Office, after much obfuscation and contradictory responses, still refuses to disclose this information. I am still waiting, and the Information Commissioner is now also seeking answers.
Underpinning a democratic constitution is media freedom. We have relied in this country on excellent public service broadcasting to inform people about issues which help to determine their votes, but this Government have spent years trying to tame the BBC and prevent it being too critical of government policies such as Brexit by threatening the source of its income. Now they seek to privatise Channel 4, the only justification for which is that it has been a thorn in the side of the Government.
At the same time, we have seen government appearing to hand out taxpayers’ money to sections of the newspaper industry without proper transparency. The Byline Times yesterday quoted Dominic Cummings claiming that the Government made “bungs” dressed up as Covid relief. He says:
“Newspapers negotiated direct bungs to themselves”
with the Prime Minister and that there were “no officials” present on these calls, but that the officials were subsequently told to send the money
“dressed up as ‘COVID relief’”.
The Government refuse to say how the money for the All In, All Together advertising in certain newspapers was distributed. There was a total of perhaps £50 million or even £100 million. Taxpayers will in effect have been giving money to some of the billionaires who control too much of our press, and perhaps buying favourable coverage for the Government.
Finally, important questions about party financing are raised today by an article in the New York Times showing how £450,000 was transferred to the Conservative Party prior to the last general election from the account of a pro-Russian politician in Ukraine. A basic principle of a democratic constitution is that it should not be for sale.
Drugs Policy: Departmental Responsibility
Lord Rennard Excerpts(7 years, 9 months ago)
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Baroness Williams of Trafford
I thank the noble Baroness. She and I have had many discussions both within the Chamber and outside it on this very issue. I recognise the value of Sativex in the treatment of multiple sclerosis and other types of pain relief. The MHRA is open to considering marketing approval applications for other medicinal cannabis products, should a product be developed. As happened in the case of Sativex, the Home Office will consider issuing a licence to enable trials of any new medicine provided that it complies with appropriate ethical approvals.
Lord Rennard (LD)
My Lords, last week a young man was shot dead outside a Liverpool chip shop in what was believed to be a drug-related incident. The Merseyside police say that they need many more officers to tackle the problems caused by gangs supplying illegal drugs. Does the Minister agree that it is also essential that we do more to break the link between those dependent on illegal drugs and the criminal gangs by increasing support and treatment for people with drug addictions rather than reducing it, as many local authorities are currently being forced to do as a result of reductions in expenditure imposed upon them by central government?
Baroness Williams of Trafford
I was actually talking to police officers in that area on Friday. Local authorities can spend what they deem appropriate on drug treatment and rehabilitation but I agree with the noble Lord’s first point, that breaking the link between the criminal element of drugs and the users is essential.
Queen’s Speech
Lord Rennard Excerpts(11 years, 6 months ago)
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Lord Rennard
My Lords, I wish to make a few remarks on some of the constitutional reform issues, with which I have mostly been associated in this House over the past 14 years, that I would like to have seen in the gracious Speech. I will then discuss the issue of fairness, which was a central theme in the gracious Speech, in particular in relation to the equality issues with which I have also been strongly associated in this House. I believe that my Liberal principles are linked in these issues, because my passion for democracy is about giving everyone a fair and equal opportunity to have a say in the democratic process—my passion for equality issues is also a lifelong commitment to opposing unfair discrimination in all its forms.
In the debate on the gracious Speech a year ago, I welcomed changes to the Government’s original plans for registering voters. I had a very major hand in bringing about fundamental changes to the draft legislation. I noted earlier the remarks of the noble Baroness, Lady Smith of Basildon, and I hope that she will pay some attention to the detail of those changes, because they reduced considerably the risk that individual voter registration would mean that many millions of voters were to be effectively deprived of their chance to vote. I am pleased that I helped to achieve them.
I also spoke on that occasion of the need to have a proper debate about on which days elections should be held. In my view, the UK discriminates against people in employment by holding elections on a working day. I regret, therefore, that there was no indication in the gracious Speech that the Government either recognise the problem or will seek to address it. In the aftermath of the most recent elections, to which my noble friend Lord Phillips of Sudbury referred a few moments ago, it is time to consider this issue of when elections should be held. Holding elections on a Thursday, it seems to me, makes elections much easier for the retired and the unemployed than it does for people in employment. People who are in work find it very much harder to vote, especially if they have school-age children. I believe that we should have had a measure announced to hold next year’s European elections over a weekend, with the counts to be conducted on a Sunday evening. However, as an alternative, I suggest that, as in many other countries, polling day should be declared a bank holiday. That would give everyone a more equal chance to vote.
I also think that a measure should have been announced to change the closed-list system for the European elections next year. This system, introduced by a very controlling Labour Government, was very strongly criticised by both Liberal Democrats and Conservatives when it was introduced. It should now be changed to allow voters rather than parties to rank the order of the candidates who are elected. Such a change would, for example, make it easier for voters wanting to support a woman candidate to do so, even if the party machine put forward only men at the top of its list.
I am proud of the way in which I helped my party to achieve gender balance when we began electing our MEPs by proportional representation. When I oversaw my party’s European election campaign in 1999, I had to rank all the constituencies in order of winnability to ensure that half of our top candidates were women. We elected 12 MEPs in those elections, six women and six men, but this relied on the party using a system known as “zipping”. Open lists would allow voters themselves to prevent parties from failing to ensure fair representation of women and men. This has been shown to work in other countries, such as Finland.
On the general issue of equality, I consider that the principle of fairness referred to in the gracious Speech requires support for the same-sex marriage Bill. Eleven years ago, I was pleased to speak very strongly in support of the original Civil Partnerships Bill introduced by my noble friend Lord Lester of Herne Hill. I explained then that as a Liberal Democrat I saw the principle of equality as a simple one and I quoted my party constitution, which says that we see ourselves as upholders of the,
“values of individual and social justice”,
and that,
“we reject all prejudice and discrimination based upon race, colour, religion, age, disability, sex or sexual orientation”.
I also explained then that you do not need to be a Liberal Democrat to believe in equal treatment for people of different sexual orientation; you just need to subscribe to the principles of human rights and equality before the law.
Article 1 of the Universal Declaration of Human Rights says:
“All human beings are born free and equal in dignity and rights”.
When we consider some of the terrible events of the 20th century, we see why we need human rights legislation. In the 21st century, I hope that we will uphold the principles of that legislation in the face of some prejudice against it. I believe that the principle of human rights includes the right of same-sex couples to marry. It is a matter of equality before the law. The right to marry is in Article 12 of the European Convention on Human Rights. The right to freedom of thought, conscience and religion is in Article 9. The prohibition of discrimination is in Article 14.
There was a long struggle in this country for religious freedom, but those who benefit from this freedom should not now deny it to others. In January, I had a letter published in the Daily Telegraph stating:
“Every religion must be able to decide for itself on issues such as forms of worship and who they can marry, subject to laws that protect minors etc. It cannot be right for one denomination or religion to prevent other faiths, such as the Quakers and the Liberal and Reformed Jews, from choosing to marry people of the same sex”.
In other countries where gay marriage has been introduced, society—I believe it exists—has not collapsed, despite some people’s fears. The terrible position at the moment in which transsexual people cannot change their legal gender without also having to end their existing marriage will be ended with this Bill.
The issue of the future of this House is settled for a couple of years at least, in spite of my hopes for reform. I hope that in the debates on the same-sex marriage Bill we will uphold the principles of fairness referred to in the gracious Speech and, by supporting the principle of equal marriage, show that we in this place can be a force for good, for progress and for a tolerant society based on mutual respect. I look forward to continuing the debate on issues of democracy and equality over the next year.
Electoral Registration and Administration Bill
Lord Rennard Excerpts(11 years, 9 months ago)
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Lord Hart of Chilton
I explained, I hope, a moment ago why what I am saying is relevant to the particular proposals of the Bill. It is for the House to decide its procedure. In the sense that I have found it completely compelling that it is relevant, it is for the House to decide, in due course, what the outcome of the debate should be. If the view of the House is that what I have said is irrelevant, out of scope, nothing to do with the Bill at all, then the voting will take place accordingly. If, however, there are people——and I suspect there are many—who agree with me then they will vote to the contrary.
Lord Rennard
The four Members from different parts of the House who signed the amendment may all have slightly different arguments to make about why we each support it, but we are all agreed that the electoral register on which the current boundary review is taking place is not really fit for that purpose and that the current review of boundaries should therefore be postponed.
This issue was the subject of fierce debate during the lengthy passage of the Parliamentary Voting Systems and Constituencies Bill, with many noble Lords saying that it was not fit for purpose then. However, most of us relied on the best evidence available at the time that the electoral register contained the details of 92% of the people who should be included on it. Since then, however, work done by the Electoral Commission, commissioned and paid for by the Cabinet Office, shows that across the country, only about 82% of the names that should be included on the register are presently on it and that there are wide variations between different areas. For example, in the London Borough of Lambeth, only about 73% of the names that should be there are on the register.
This electoral register provides the basis for boundary reviews, and it is now clear that, if we want to have equal-sized constituencies, we must have an electoral register for which every possible effort has been made to make it as complete and accurate as possible, and that special efforts must be made to tackle underregistration in some areas if that objective is to be achieved.
Lord Naseby
As a former leader of the London Borough of Islington, which is very similar to Lambeth, I can say that the electoral register over time has never been more than 70% to 75% accurate. What magical qualities are there now that will change the situation in boroughs that have a transient population, always have had and always will have?
Lord Rennard
Those of us who have followed in great detail the Committee proceedings on this Bill will know that I have argued at length, together with other noble Lords, for a large number of measures that could greatly improve the accuracy and completeness of the electoral register, particularly schemes of data matching and data mining, which would enable public and private databases—
Lord Cormack
Was it this purity of motive that provoked the Deputy Prime Minister to make his off-the-cuff statement on 6 August?
Lord Rennard
The Deputy Prime Minister’s statement on 6 August was clearly not off the cuff and noble Lords to my left should have been aware of what he was going to say in the event of other issues which took place.
If I might proceed with some of my arguments, I would also like to say that for some of these Benches, another argument is very important. In the long deliberations on the Parliamentary Voting System and Constituencies Bill, we considered the relative effects on the power of the Executive and Parliament of reducing the number of MPs from 650 to 600. My party has always considered the need to reduce the number of MPs in the context of issues such as greater devolution and decentralisation, and the reform of your Lordships’ House. Not all my noble friends behind me will agree on some key aspects of Lords reform, but we all want to see an effective second Chamber able to hold a Government, of any party, to account. The failure to achieve—
Baroness Browning
I am concerned at this linkage between Lords reform and the measures that the noble Lord is now espousing. I took the effort over the weekend to read 22 Days in May, by our colleague David Laws, who was part of the negotiations. In the book, I found nothing in those negotiations that links Lords reform with boundary changes.
Lord Rennard
My Lords, the constitutional package that resulted from those 22 days—or however long it was—of deliberation clearly linked together many aspects of constitutional reform. If I may be allowed to develop my argument, I am suggesting that there is a clear link between the accountability of government to Parliament and the number of MPs. It is the view of my party that the failure to achieve any measure of reform at all here means that the hoped-for increased ability to hold the Executive to account will not happen. It may even decline as the Prime Minister prepares to make many more nominations to this House.
With the so-called payroll vote approaching half the membership of the government side of the House of Commons, the power of government to control Parliament is effectively increased. I believe that the opposite should be the case. This is, therefore, not the right time to reduce the ability of the House of Commons to hold the Executive to account by reducing its membership. There are no signs that the size of the Government’s so-called payroll vote will be reduced and coalition government probably makes it less likely. Many in my party take the view that the reduction in the number of MPs proposed in the current boundary review should not take place without reform that would strengthen the legitimacy of this House.
The media would make too much of two coalition parties going into two different Lobbies today. But in countries across Europe where coalition is much more the norm, this is not so unusual and people understand that different parties vote in different ways on some issues, while agreeing on packages of measures where they can find agreement on what they both consider to be in the national interest.
On the whole package of constitutional reform set out in the coalition agreement, it was not possible to deliver what was promised in that agreement and in the gracious Speech following the general election. So my noble friends to my left should not be surprised that we are where we are today. Noble Lords who have followed our many debates on electoral registration will know that my consistent aim—and that of my party—has been to improve the process of electoral registration so that we have a system fit for the purpose of conducting elections and reviewing boundaries as and when required. The question that now must be considered is what is the link between the boundary reviews and the process of electoral registration being considered in this Bill.
It seems to me that the issues of electoral registration and boundaries are inextricably linked. As my noble friend the former leader of the House, Lord Strathclyde, stated when the Parliamentary Voting System and Constituencies Bill was debated,
“the boundary review will be based on the electoral register in force at the time of the review”.
He pointed out that all:
“Previous boundary reviews have used the electoral register”.
He also relied on the fact, which we now know to be incorrect, that,
“the registration rate in the UK is between 91 and 92 per cent”.—[Official Report, 26/1/11; col. 1040.]
If the Bill that we are currently considering is passed, we will soon have a very different electoral register—one that, according to the aims of all Ministers, should be both more accurate and more complete. It is right that we use the new registration system for the next review of boundaries.
In considering the scope of the Bill, I too have great respect for the advice that we receive in this House and I note that it is for the House itself to decide on the basis of conflicting advice. However, I also have long experience of electoral registration and administration issues. I need hardly point out that elections simply cannot be conducted without a process to determine constituency boundaries and that this amendment is about the timing of that process. It is an integral part of the process by which boundaries are revised and why the amendment is highly relevant.
I thought long and hard about the Clerk’s advice and alternative legal opinions. It seems to me that even if electoral registration and boundaries were not considered to be connected, this Bill could not be considered to have only one or two simple purposes— the basis of the view that the amendment may be out of scope. It is clear to many of us that the Bill is about more than one or two things, since it actually covers at least eight areas: first, individual registration; secondly, the timetable for elections; thirdly, polling stations and district reviews; fourthly, the performance of returning officers; fifthly, emblems to be used on ballot papers; sixthly, the right of police and community support officers to enter polling stations; seventhly, alterations to the postal vote regime; and eighthly—and relevantly—repeal of existing powers for a centralised, national electoral register.
This means that the Bill is open to this amendment and, with good reason, we on these Benches support it.
Lord Crickhowell
My Lords, as my noble friend the Leader of the House has reminded us, the Companion states in specific terms that it is expected, in the circumstances that have arisen, that the Clerk’s advice will be followed. He was absolutely right in the warnings that he gave about the possible unintended consequences of the actions now being taken. That seems to be one powerful reason for rejecting this amendment. It is not a sensible way to change the conventions and practice of the House.
I want to concentrate on a second reason for opposing the amendment, although I will say this about the comment made by the noble Lord, Lord Hart, about the information being incomplete and the register being inaccurate: of course, it is freely acknowledged that under the present arrangements the information is substantially out of date and often very substantially incomplete.
Last Wednesday in the Constitution Committee, I questioned the Deputy Prime Minister on the subject that we are now debating: the implementation of the Parliamentary Voting System and Constituencies Act. I do not refer to this exchange with any great expectation that I can persuade my Liberal Democrat friends to abandon their stated intention to support the amendment but because I think that noble Lords in other parts of the House should be clear as to why they are being asked to act in the same way.
Both in our committee last Wednesday and in the Political and Constitutional Reform Committee of the other place on 13 December, the Deputy Prime Minister made it quite clear that his decision had absolutely nothing to do with merit and was entirely due to a political judgment that the implementation of this measure must be postponed to keep,
“the overall balance of the packages of the things that we included in the Coalition Agreement”.
He rejected my opinion that the balance argument did not hold up and that a desirable Bill should not be dropped simply because the public had given “a big thumbs down” to the measures or because he had not persuaded the House of Commons that the House of Lords Reform Bill was a good Bill. He equally firmly rejected what I described as my “old-fashioned” point of view that you should support or reject a measure because of its merits or lack of them.
The Deputy Prime Minister could not have been clearer about the merits of the Act. At Second Reading in the other place, he had identified,
“three problems with the current electoral map. Constituencies vary too much in size, they are based on information that is out of date, and there are too many of them”.
He provided specific examples of these grave discrepancies, saying:
“On the broken scales of our democracy, 10 voters in Glasgow North have the same weight as 17 voters in Manchester Central”.—[Official Report, Commons, 6/9/12; col. 36.]
Later, referring to the number of Members of Parliament that we ought to have, he said, “600 is about right”.
In both committees, the Deputy Prime Minister said that he was strongly in favour of the Act and hoped that it would be implemented, but that he wanted its implementation delayed for a full electoral cycle. He wanted that to happen for one reason only: because Conservative Members of the Commons had by their votes blocked his House of Lords Reform Bill. He repeatedly asserted that they had done so despite being elected on a manifesto commitment to reform the House of Lords. My noble friend Lord Lang of Monkton pointed out that the Government voted in support of the House of Lords Reform Bill and tried to ensure Back-Bench support and that the manifesto commitment was to seek a consensus, which is totally different.
In my view, we are not dealing with two measures that can be put neatly on each side of the balance scales, but with a whole string of measures covered by the coalition agreement, some of which, to use the Deputy Prime Minister’s own words, the public had given “a big thumbs down” to.
Lord Rennard
Lord Rennard
My Lords, our Amendment 39 seeks to resolve concerns raised by the Electoral Commission that the wording in the Bill could weaken electoral registration officers’ existing duties.
It is welcome that the Government propose to add a duty to secure that,
“persons who are entitled to be registered in a register (and no others) are registered in it”.
This is effectively a duty to ensure completeness and accuracy, and I welcome that. However, we do not see the case for diluting that duty with a test that states,
“so far as is reasonably practicable”.
If those words were omitted, the duty would simply be subject to the existing test, which is to,
“take all steps that are necessary”,
making it far stronger. The Government argued at an earlier stage that the “reasonably practicable” test does not make any difference and that electoral registration officers will still comply. That begs the question: if it makes no difference, why change the wording? It is clear that having these words is more likely to dilute the duty than not having them.
As far as I know, no legal challenges have been brought to the existing test of,
“take all steps that are necessary”,
with, perhaps, a vexatious suggestion that an electoral registration officer should have taken an unreasonable step, such as coercing someone to fill in a form or something of that nature. It is of course understood that the steps taken should be reasonable, but we believe that all necessary steps should be taken, and to that end the words referred to in Amendment 39 should be omitted.
I would be grateful to hear from the Minister why he thinks there is merit in removing those words—or at least a reiteration of the assurance that there is no intent to change the purpose of those words, even if they disappear from the legislation. We should not like to hear that there is any intention to dilute the duties of the electoral registration officers, and these reassurances will need to be persuasive if we are not to return to this issue on Report. I look forward to hearing from the Minister and I beg to move.
Lord Falconer of Thoroton
My Lords, we have two amendments in this group. They chime with the point that the noble Lord, Lord Rennard, is making; namely, is the Bill intending to dilute the powers of electoral registration officers and the Electoral Commission?
Amendment 39A seeks to address concerns held by the Electoral Commission that Schedule 4 waters down the provisions of the Representation of the People Act 1983 that required electoral registration officers to take all necessary steps in carrying out their duties. Our amendment proposes to remove this subsection and is intended to give the Government an opportunity to explain their thinking on this, and it very much reflects the point made by the noble Lord, Lord Rennard.
With regard to Amendment 39C, this Bill downgrades the role of the Electoral Commission in the transition to and rollout of individual electoral registration. We have sought several opportunities to amend this Bill to give the Electoral Commission more power. This amendment aims to give power to the Electoral Commission to intervene where EROs are not performing to a sufficiently high standard.
However, interestingly, the Electoral Commission has now issued a statement saying that it feels that it does not need these further powers. We originally tabled this amendment in response to the Electoral Commission’s concerns, but it now says:
“In instances where the Commission has concerns about ERO performance, following a recommendation from the Commission, the Secretary of State or Lord President of the Council has a ‘power of direction’ to require EROs to comply with any general or special directions in relation to the discharge of their functions. To date this system has worked well and we therefore see no need for this to change when IER is introduced”.
The Electoral Commission says it is satisfied with this provided that it receives assurance from the Government that they are prepared to use the existing power of direction in cases where EROs are not fulfilling their duty to take all necessary steps to maintain the electoral register.
It is not a satisfactory position that the Electoral Commission not taking additional powers depends upon a Minister intervening in relation to what particular EROs are doing. It is a slower process; it depends upon the good will of politicians. Is it not better for it to be dealt with by a body that is independent of any political party? I would be interested to hear the Government’s views on these issues.
Lord Gardiner of Kimble
My Lords, first, I thank my noble friend for raising the issue of the general duty on registration officers.
The amendments to the 1983 Act set out in the Bill strengthen the existing duties on a registration officer while taking into account the requirements of the new registration system. The amendments to Sections 9 and 9A of the 1983 Act made by the Bill do not lower the standards that registration officers are expected to meet. Instead, they set out explicitly important requirements that are not expressly stated in legislation at present.
The qualification of “reasonably practicable” applies to the standard of completeness and accuracy of the register that must be reached—it must be as complete and accurate as is reasonably practicable. This is a high standard. To set it any higher would be to ask registration officers to achieve unreasonable or impracticable levels, which would not be right. It is simply not possible for registration officers to have perfectly up-to-date registers at all times and it would not be reasonable to introduce a requirement on registration officers which they would not be able to meet.
The Electoral Commission accepts that the changes proposed to Section 9A do not represent a watering down of the duties of electoral registration officers, but has asked the Government to make clear their intention behind the rewording of Section 9A. To offer that reassurance I will quote Mr David Heath from another place when he said that,
“far from diluting the requirements on registration officers, under the new registration system we are strengthening the existing duties”.—[Official Report, Commons, 27/6/12; col. 316.]
The change we are making does not weaken the duty in Section 9A. We have set out in draft regulations our initial proposals for what registration officers must do to encourage an application to register to vote. This includes as a minimum the sending of an invitation, two reminders, and the sending of a canvasser to encourage an application.
I believe that Amendment 39A has the same desired effect as Amendment 39. In addition, however, it would have the effect of removing the explicit duty to seek to include in the register those who are eligible to vote but are not currently on the register. Amendment 39C would give the Electoral Commission powers of intervention where they judge that registration officers have not taken all of the necessary steps outlined under Section 9A. However, it is not clear from the amendment what form this intervention would take.
We believe that the fulfilment of the requirements set out in Section 9A plays a vital role in improving the completeness and accuracy of our electoral registers, which we are committed to achieving; however, giving the Electoral Commission powers to intervene where this is not being done would be a significant change in its role.
The Commission already has powers to set and monitor performance standards for electoral services, against which electoral registration officers’ performance is measured. A failure to meet those standards could indicate a potential failure to meet the duty set out in Section 9A of the 1983 Act. In addition, Ministers may require registration officers to comply with directions relating to discharging their functions. It is also an offence for them to breach their official duty without good cause. To date this system has worked well and we see no need to change this or for any specific provision to be made relating to the discharge of Section 9A duties. For these reasons, I question whether the amendment is necessary in ensuring that Section 9A duties are fulfilled. For those reasons I ask my noble friend to withdraw his amendment.
I shall also speak to Amendments 43 and 45, which are minor and technical amendments. As a consequence of the changes to the canvass process under IER to be made by the Bill, we need to remove the reference to “the relevant date” from Section 49(6)(a) of the 1983 Act. That date is usually 15 October, which is currently the date of residence for the purposes of the annual canvass. Under IER the canvass will not be tied to a date. It is for those reasons that the Government will move Amendments 43 and 45.
Lord Rennard
My Lords, I thank the Minister for his assurances that there is no intention whatever to weaken the duties of returning officers in relation to the registration process. I hope that any information that emanates from the Electoral Commission in due course will emphasise that fact to returning officers. On the basis of his reassurances, I beg leave to withdraw Amendment 39.
Lord Rennard
My Lords, I shall speak first to Amendment 58 in my name and that of my noble friend Lord Tyler. Unlike the intention of other amendments within this group, we do not wish to decide today that the transition to individual electoral registration need necessarily take longer than the Government hope. However we very much want to make sure that Parliament has the opportunity, if necessary, to lengthen the transitional period in order to protect the comprehensiveness of the register. That is the purpose of Amendment 58.
We understand from recent discussions we have held with the Electoral Commission that it will not be sure about the success or otherwise of this transition until some point in 2016. Therefore, we think it is highly desirable that there should be some opportunity to extend that period. We know that throughout the process the Electoral Commission will give advice to Parliament as the transitional phase continues, and Parliament will have regard to that advice, but we feel strongly that Parliament must be able to act upon that advice rather than just receive it. However we think it would unfair to say that the Electoral Commission should be the sole arbiter of whether progress towards individual electoral registration has succeeded sufficiently well that the register could be considered to be in a fit and proper state for the various purposes for which it is used.
The Committee has heard previously about our recommendations to try to ensure that the process is a success. We considered them on our first day in Committee. We on these Benches were particularly concerned about things such as the position of attainers—16 and 17 year-olds. We wanted to know how we can track down people in the private rented sector and how we might make use of the DVLA database of drivers to find huge numbers of adults. Even if we do not use the whole DVLA database, we are anxious to know how people who notify the DVLA that they have changed their address might be incorporated into the system of electoral registration.
All those different methodologies to try to improve both the accuracy and the comprehensiveness of the electoral register involve new technology and new processes, and we cannot tell at this stage how successful or otherwise they will be. The current round of pilots has yet to be properly evaluated. Although we want to make individual electoral registration a success under the timetable set out in the Bill, we think that it is important that there is a safeguard in such an important issue for our democracy, so that Parliament has the opportunity to say, “We are not sure that this process has been sufficiently successful for us immediately to change over to individual electoral registration exclusively and drop the carryover”.
We know from many debates how the electoral register is in a different state of order in different parts of the country. We would want to know that it is in a better state of order in all parts of the country before proceeding. We think that we need more flexibility.
We know that Ministers might even welcome the idea that Parliament has to approve the final completion of the transitional phase and the use of the new electoral register without carryover if it helps bring pressure to ensure that that transitional process is carried out successfully. It is not necessarily delay or dilution, but flexibility which we seek. We hope to hear from the Minister that consideration will be given to allowing Parliament to decide later in the process whether it is really safe to proceed as is envisaged for 1 December 2015 or whether carryover needs to continue for a little longer. We may be dealing with new boundary reviews starting on the register on 1 December 2015, and important elections are due in Scotland and Wales and many English local authorities in 2016. It is vital that the register is in good shape for those purposes.
Amendment 50 deals with the distinct issue of the treatment of postal voters in the transition to individual electoral registration. I have instinctive sympathy with the Government’s view, which the Electoral Commission appears to share, that the postal voting system may be more open to abuse and therefore ripe for reform than the in-person system. However, the purpose of the amendment is to test the evidence for that contention.
In 2006, the previous Government accepted an amendment in my name to the Electoral Administration Bill, now enacted, which greatly improved the security of the postal voting system by requiring anyone voting by post to sign a personal application to say that they wanted to vote by post and to sign an accompanying certificate with the postal vote so that we could be certain that the person who applied for the postal vote was the same person who was returning the completed ballot paper.
It is possible to see how voters impersonating people in person can more easily get away with impersonation. It is not difficult to go to a polling station, give a name and address and be handed a ballot paper. You might not choose the name of someone famous or someone who always votes, because they may turn up subsequently and dispute the fact that they have already been given a ballot paper and demand a subsequent ballot paper, and there may be an investigation, but we know that many people never vote. A party could be involved in an election, find out that someone has no intention of going to the polling station and vote on their behalf. Indeed, in my experience in Liverpool in the 1980s, when the noble Baroness, Lady Gould of Potternewton, was trying to organise reforms of the Labour Party in that city at the same time as I was trying to beat the then Militant-led Labour Party, there was widespread impersonation at the polling station organised by the Militants, who did not have sufficient support from ordinary voters but could impersonate large numbers of them.
It is not as simple as saying that voting by post is clearly open to fraud and abuse but that voting in person is not, but the Bill proposes that you must be registered under the IER system if you are to vote by post, but that you do not have to if you vote in person. I wonder whether that is justifiable and whether we should insist that postal voters are registered under the new system if they are to be able to exercise their right to vote in the 2015 elections.
Electoral Registration and Administration Bill
Lord Rennard Excerpts(11 years, 9 months ago)
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Lord Rennard
“Provision for polling to take place at weekends
(1) Section 1 of the Fixed-term Parliaments Act 2011 (polling days for parliamentary general elections) is amended as follows.
(2) In subsection (2), leave out “The polling day” and insert “Polling”.
(3) In subsection (2), leave out “7 May 2015” and insert “conducted over the course of one day, or two consecutive days, between 2 May 2015 and 10 May 2015 inclusive”.
(4) In subsection (3), leave out “The polling day” and insert “Polling”.
(5) In subsection (3), leave out “the first Thursday” and insert “conducted over the course of one day, or two consecutive days, and in the first ten days”.
(6) In subsection (3), after “day” in the third line insert “or days”.
(7) In subsection (4)—
(a) leave out “the polling day” and insert “polling had been conducted”, (b) in paragraph (a) leave out “was appointed”,(c) for paragraph (b) substitute—“(b) was conducted before the first weekend in May”.(8) In subsection (5), after “day” insert “or days”.
(9) In subsection (5), leave out “is” and insert “are”.
(10) In subsection (7), after “day” insert “or days”.
(11) After subsection (7) insert—
“(8) The Prime Minister must by order made by statutory instrument specify the day, or days, on which polling is to be conducted under subsection (2) by 31 January 2014.
(9) The Prime Minister must by order made by statutory instrument specify the day, or days, on which polling is to be conducted under subsection (3) by a date no later than 15 months before the first weekend in May in the fifth calendar year following that in which polling had been conducted for the previous parliamentary general election.””
Lord Rennard
My Lords, at this stage of the evening I do not intend to go again through the arguments we had about weekend voting during the passage of the Fixed-term Parliaments Act. However, I am a long-standing advocate of a change to voting at the weekend, or at least for it to be considered. We have never held a proper pilot to assess whether more people might choose to vote if they were able to do so at the weekend. The amendment tabled in my name and that of my noble friend Lord Tyler seeks to give Parliament a chance to decide to hold the next general election over one or two days of the weekend following the presently scheduled date of 7 May 2015. This would permit time to consider properly all the issues about opening polling stations at the weekend and about, for example, religious observance.
Lord Gardiner of Kimble
My Lords, first, I thank my noble friend for moving this amendment, because it has given us an opportunity to consider the points on weekend voting. This amendment would amend the Fixed-term Parliaments Act 2011, to change the current position, whereby the date of the parliamentary general election is on a fixed day, to a position whereby the Prime Minister would specify by order that polling for the next general election could take place on any day, or on two consecutive days, between 2 May and 10 May 2015. The provision would then apply for subsequent general elections every five years over the course of one day, or two consecutive days, and within the first 10 days of May. I understand that this is to allow the Government to consider the case for weekend voting and to implement it at the next UK parliamentary general election in 2015 and at subsequent general elections. This is clearly an important issue.
As noble Lords will be aware, there are arguments both for and against moving polling day from the traditional Thursday to another day or days, perhaps at the weekend. Similarly, there are arguments for and against holding elections over more than one day. We know that moving to weekend voting would raise particular issues and concerns for certain faith groups. However, it is not obvious that moving polling day from the traditional Thursday to a Saturday or Sunday, or both, would make it easier for electors to vote.
The most recent assessment of opinion on this issue was a consultation exercise undertaken in 2008 by the previous Government, which made the findings public. The overall response was against a move to weekend voting, with some 53% of respondents taking that view. Additionally, where weekend voting has been tested in a small number of electoral voting pilots, the total take-up was generally around 2% to 3% of the overall total number of votes cast, and there is no evidence to suggest that it encouraged voters to vote who would not have otherwise done so.
For these reasons, I do not believe that this is the appropriate legislative vehicle to make such a change, or even to open up the possibility for the Prime Minister to make the change later without, as the amendment is drafted, the consent of either House. Moreover, alongside concerns about practicability, moving to weekend voting would also raise resource and cost issues. Importantly, an impact assessment undertaken by the Ministry of Justice in February 2010 under the previous Government concluded that moving from Thursday to weekend voting would increase costs significantly. Staff, polling station and counting costs would all rise with weekend voting, as would the costs of storing and securing ballot papers over two days at the weekend. The impact assessment estimated that, in total, costs would increase by around £58 million per general election. This clearly is not the primary factor, but it is one that we should consider in discussing this amendment.
Given that there is no clear evidence that the electorate would favour such a move to weekend voting, the Government have no current plans to move polling day for either the general or other elections to the weekend. However, they will keep under review ways in which the democratic process can be enhanced. For these reasons, I hope that my noble friend will agree to withdraw his amendment.
Lord Rennard
My Lords, these short debates about weekend voting are always frustrating for me. People always say, “Where is the evidence that it would be a popular thing to do?” yet we never have the pilots from which we could gain the evidence. It is rather like saying, “Well, I do not like Chinese food, but I have never been into a Chinese restaurant”. Unless you try something, you do not have much evidence. It seems to me that there is much evidence already there. We know that people of retirement age have a far greater propensity to vote than people of working age. Common sense tells you that a factor might be that retired people can vote easily during a Thursday when the whole of the day is at their disposal; whereas there are people of working age and in work, perhaps also of the age where they have children to drop off at school on a morning, who work a full day and pick up their kids from school and have much less time in the evening. Perhaps that might be the reason why fewer people who are not of retirement age vote. We do not know until we do these pilots.
We hear the argument about it costing more, but on the other hand, with things such as storing ballot papers, we vote in European elections on a Thursday and the ballot papers have to be stored until a Sunday and then counted. If you voted on a Saturday or Sunday, you could reduce those costs. However, I agree with the Minister that this is not the appropriate vehicle to make such a change and on that basis, I beg leave to withdraw the amendment.
Police (Complaints and Conduct) Bill
Lord Rennard Excerpts(11 years, 11 months ago)
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Lord Rennard
In this excellent and emotive debate, I wish to speak briefly as someone who is very proud to have been born and brought up in the city of Liverpool. My church was Holy Trinity, Wavertree, and I remember being confirmed there by the then Bishop of Warrington who used three words as the theme of his sermon that day: love, faith and courage. He was a clever bishop because he knew that many of us would remember “love”, “faith” and “courage”, spelt out by the initials LFC, our football team. It is love, faith and courage that the families and friends of the victims in 1989 have shown these twenty-three and a half years.
Liverpool people are generally proud of our city, but they are aware, too, of prejudices held against it by some who know little about it, its people and its culture. I am sure that I am not alone in fearing that elements of prejudice against the city contributed to the terrible events at Hillsborough—the false allegations that were made in some newspapers and the cover up of responsibility for 96 deaths that persisted for 23 years. Questions are still being asked. How can it have taken 23 years to get to this point? Why have police officers in the past not been compelled to give evidence in such cases until now? Is it right that evidence about the death of 96 people cannot necessarily be taken, even with these proposals, from people who have retired or resigned from the police?
People in Liverpool and across the country are right to ask why previous Governments did not act more decisively to ensure that the truth that was well known in Liverpool was made more widely known nationally? This Bill is necessary. It will help to bring about the justice sought by the families and friends of the victims over almost a quarter of a century. The families of the victims have shown great resolve and determination in the face of much opposition to exposing the truth. They lost loved ones, and saw those whom they lost blamed unfairly for what went wrong. But because of their dignified, brave and consistent commitment to the cause of justice for the 96, they are finally beginning to get answers. They are all grateful, I know, to all those who helped to establish the truth by serving on the panel led so effectively by the right reverend Prelate the Bishop of Liverpool.
The report of the Hillsborough Independent Panel has been universally accepted, although some of those responsible for the defamation of those who died have yet to accept any proper responsibility for what they said and did at the time. Some of those who colluded in decisions not to let the truth emerge have yet to explain themselves. There is now widespread agreement in all the major parties that confidence and trust in the police needs to be restored by looking carefully at all the issues surrounding how we police the police. This Bill goes some way towards addressing that question and from these Benches I am very pleased to support it.
Government: Procurement
Lord Rennard Excerpts(12 years, 4 months ago)
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Baroness Verma
I take the noble Lord’s views on board and will take them back to the department. I also hope I can reassure him that we are working closely with the health service and through the services provided by the online G-Cloud strategies that we have formulated to shorten the gaps he envisages.
Lord Rennard
My Lords, will the Minister tell the House the Government’s policies in relation to the development of the computer code or software they pay for and whether it should be made more freely available for others to use and extend? Does she accept that allowing this could sometimes prevent the public sector wasting money by paying more than once to develop the same software and that it would also be incredibly helpful to the private and voluntary sectors?
Baroness Verma
The noble Lord is absolutely right to raise that point. As part of the Chancellor’s Autumn Statement last year government departments agreed to release a substantial package of data including material relating to many of the major departments. Most people will also be able to access data rather freely through our Open Data Institute, which we hope to have fully launched by September.