Elections: Weekend Voting

Baroness Neville-Rolfe Excerpts

Tuesday 1st July 2014 Lords Chamber

Asked by

[Baroness Neville-Rolfe]

To ask Her Majesty’s Government whether moving United Kingdom elections from Thursday to Sunday has been considered in order to minimise disruption, especially for parents and schools.

[Lord Wallace of Saltaire (LD)]

My Lords, the Government have no current plans to change polling day from Thursday to Sunday.

[Baroness Neville-Rolfe (Con)]

My Lords, I thank my noble friend for that brief reply, and welcome the news about the success of online registration that he has already referred to. I wonder if more thought can be given to this important issue. The biggest single thing that has not been covered in debates on electoral issues is the cost of days lost for millions of schoolchildren—and often, no doubt, their working parents—on election days. Does the Minister agree that this adds an extra dimension to the argument that should be considered in the interests of our education system?

[Lord Wallace of Saltaire]

My Lords, the previous Government conducted a consultation exercise in 2008 on whether or not to move the day of voting to the weekend. The majority of responses to that consultation were against such a move. Of course, there are additional costs of transferring voting to a Sunday. If one were to have voting on two days over the weekend, it is likely that those costs would be in the order of £100 million-plus. I know that the Department for Education has suggested that schools that have to close for voting should use that day for staff training as a means of minimising the loss of teaching time.