Oral Answers to Questions
Debate between Nick Smith and Sam Gyimah(9 years, 9 months ago)
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Mr Gyimah
The shadow Justice Secretary asks me what I am scared of. What we know is that the Labour party is not against IER. Labour Members are pretending in this House that they are interested in students and young people when they are not. It is all about the block vote—that is what they want.
Nick Smith (Blaenau Gwent) (Lab)
3. What steps he is taking to address low levels of electoral turnout.
The Minister for the Constitution (Mr Sam Gyimah)
The low levels of electoral turnout are an important and long-standing issue. Turnout was 78% in 1992, it declined steadily to 61% in 2005, and it rose to 65% in 2010. The Government’s responsibility is to ensure that everybody eligible to vote is on the register—because if someone is not on the register, they cannot vote—which is why we are committed to maximising the register. However, it is the responsibility of politicians to set out an attractive offer that makes people want to vote, so the job of increasing turnout is a job not for the Government but for all of us in the House.
Nick Smith
Does the Minister believe that holding elections on Thursdays best maximises voter turnout?
Electoral Registration
Debate between Nick Smith and Sam Gyimah(9 years, 9 months ago)
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Mr Gyimah
My hon. Friend rightly points to the principle I laid out at the beginning of my speech: we have to treat all voters equally when it comes to the electoral register.
We all know that under the old system the register was inflated. Tenants and students moved on, but the register did not. People were registered at multiple addresses without their knowledge.
Nick Smith (Blaenau Gwent) (Lab)
In Blaenau Gwent over the past year, more than 2,000 people have dropped off the register. Does the Minister accept that being on the register is important in obtaining credit and getting a mortgage? What are the Government going to do to help the 8.5 million people who have fallen off the register to get a mortgage and to borrow money?
Mr Gyimah
The number of people on the register is increasing all the time. If we look at the register for December or for any month, we see that it provides a partial snapshot of a two-year transition process. We also know that the old system was susceptible to fraud. In one case, someone managed to register their dog to vote.