Representation of the People Bill

Debate between Katie Lam and Luke Taylor

Report stage & 3rd reading
Wednesday 2nd September 2026 Commons Chamber

[Katie Lam]

I thank my hon. Friend for his intervention.

[Luke Taylor (Sutton and Cheam) (LD)]

Will the hon. Lady give way for a constructive question?

[Katie Lam]

I will give way one final time on this point.

[Luke Taylor]

I thank the hon. Lady for her patience. Does she see the conflict between addressing problems with family voting, which may well be caused by members of a family not having English as their first language, or as a language at all, and therefore needing to be informed in a language that they are comfortable with, and taking steps to restrict information being produced in a language that enables a family member to understand the arguments that are being made in an election? We can all agree that understanding the English language, which the vast majority of us speak, learning it and having access to it is important for integration, but does she not agree that these measures will have two conflicting outcomes? One is to restrict communication with all members of a family; the other is to ban their influence.

[Katie Lam]

I thank the hon. Member for his intervention, and I understand his point, but it is a deep, frightening and fundamental problem if we have people in this country who cannot operate in the shared language of our nation. I understand what he is saying, but there are two possible ways to deal with that problem, and I believe that the one he is suggesting will ultimately be deleterious to our nation and our democracy. We must make a choice—I think that is part of the point he is making—and I am making a different choice.