General Election: Voting Deadline

Debate between Lord Rogan and Lord McNally

Wednesday 7th July 2010 Lords Chamber

[Lord Rogan]

My Lords, following the electoral abuses experienced in Fermanagh and South Tyrone in 2001, changes to electoral rules and methodology—such as reducing the number of voters per ballot box from 900 to 500—were introduced in Northern Ireland. All those changes were much stricter than in the rest of the kingdom. Will the Government take cognizance of the vast experience of electoral practices that we have in Northern Ireland and consider introducing in the rest of the kingdom these higher standards that we have for Northern Ireland constituencies?

[Lord McNally]

Yes, we should study very carefully the lessons that have been learnt in Northern Ireland in this area.