Parliamentary Voting System and Constituencies Bill

Debate between Lord Wallace of Tankerness and Baroness Golding

Wednesday 2nd February 2011 Lords Chamber

[Lord Wallace of Tankerness]

As one who stood for election on I do not know how many occasions, I shall not tangle with one of the best agents that my party has ever known.

[Baroness Golding]

I realise that the noble and learned Lord does not wish to tackle one of the best agents, but there is an emergency postal vote if you are taken into hospital. I say as an agent that one of the best agents seems to have forgotten that.

[Lord Wallace of Tankerness]

If a person who has been taken into hospital requires an emergency postal vote, it is highly unlikely that they will turn up at the polling station because, by definition, they are in hospital.

The general point is made. There is a responsibility on the citizen not to vote twice in the same election. I should have thought that that was a well known rule. The other point which seems to be agreed across the Committee is that it is important in this referendum that we use the rules that have been in place for 28 years. The time may be coming for them to be reviewed, but that will not happen before the referendum. We are safer, in terms of running a smooth referendum campaign, using rules that are tried and tested.