Oral Answers to Questions Debate

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Department: Cabinet Office

Oral Answers to Questions

Bernard Jenkin Excerpts
Wednesday 22nd November 2017

(6 years, 11 months ago)

Commons Chamber
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Chris Skidmore Portrait Chris Skidmore
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We believe that we need a democracy that works for everyone, which is why we are determined to introduce a democratic engagement strategy, which will be published in December. When it comes to those on the electoral register, a record 46.8 million people are now registered to vote. Actually, since the introduction of individual electoral registration, 30 million people have registered to vote, 75% of them using the online system. That is a remarkable success.

Bernard Jenkin Portrait Mr Bernard Jenkin (Harwich and North Essex) (Con)
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What measures are the Government taking to make sure that people do not vote twice in general elections?

Chris Skidmore Portrait Chris Skidmore
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Any form of electoral fraud will be taken extremely seriously by this Government. We have already stated that we intend to implement a number of recommendations made by Sir Eric Pickles’s report, “Securing the ballot”. Double voting is obviously a crime and we encourage anyone who has evidence of it to report it to the police. I recently met the Electoral Commission and the National Police Chiefs Council, and we will meet every six months to look at a strategy for tackling double voting. By introducing future reforms to postal voting, we hope that we will be able combat the issue.