Draft Mayoral and Police and Crime Commissioner Elections (Coronavirus, Nomination of Candidates) (Amendment) Order 2021 Draft Police and Crime Commissioner Elections (Welsh forms) Order 2021

Cat Smith Excerpts

Monday 1st March 2021 General Committees

[Cat Smith (Lancaster and Fleetwood) (Lab)]

It is a pleasure to see you in the Chair this afternoon, Ms Ghani.

I shall begin by addressing my remarks to the draft Mayoral and Police and Crime Commissioner Elections (Coronavirus, Nomination of Candidates) (Amendment) Order 2021. Labour supports this SI today as a practical step to ensure that the nominations process for candidates standing at elections in May can go ahead safely, considering the public health crisis. There is no doubt that candidates wishing to stand for election should have access to reasonable options for completing and submitting the necessary nomination papers that minimise the risk of transmission of the virus to them or to their families and contacts. A vulnerable candidate should not be put off running for election because of the risk caused by collecting wet signatures.

We support the measures as far as they go, but they do not go far enough. The Government have had nearly a year to put in place the necessary provisions to protect our democracy, but Ministers have once again been too slow to act. With two months to go, we have yet to see any proper plan from the Government setting out how the elections will be run safely, while councils face shortages of electoral staff, lack of venues, and funding uncertainty. I am deeply concerned that Government inaction risks creating a perfect storm of disenfranchise-ment, with long queues at polling stations on election day.

The SI that we are debating today is a prime example of the Government’s unwillingness to think outside the box. The nominations process should be fully digitised, to eradicate any concerns about the virus. Moreover, that is a change that could be maintained in future elections. Labour has consistently called on the Government to adapt and introduce safer voting methods, including voting over multiple days and all-postal voting.

There are also widespread concerns about how the counts will go ahead, given the number of people usually crammed into an indoor, poorly ventilated space. I would like to raise a couple of concerns that I hope the Minister will address in her closing remarks. Combined authority mayoral candidates or members of their team will still need to travel between several different local authority areas during the nomination process to collect wet signatures. Is the Minister concerned about that? What steps will be taken to ensure that that travel is covered by Government guidance on lockdown travel? Will the Minister outline whether she intends to maintain that change to the nominations process for future elections?

Lastly, will the Government consider updating our electoral process for the 21st century? It is frankly a basic change, to ensure that the nominations process has an option to be fully digitised.

Labour supports the Police and Crime Commissioner Elections (Welsh Forms) Order 2021. There is no question but that all necessary electoral forms should be provided in the Welsh language. It is crucial that the Welsh language be protected, particularly within our democracy. It is a crucial cornerstone of Welsh identity. The Welsh Labour Government are committed to increasing the use of Welsh with a target of a million Welsh speakers by 2050, so Labour welcomes the change.