Electoral Registration and Administration Bill

Lord Lexden Excerpts

Monday 14th January 2013 Lords Chamber

[Lord Norton of Louth]

My Lords, it is rather encouraging at this time of night if two Peers rise at the same time. I was on the Constitution Committee when this matter was discussed and I rise to support the amendment as well. I think the case for it is compelling. If an elector has made the effort to be there by 10 o’clock at night they should have the right to vote. Following on from what I was saying earlier, I think the last thing we should be doing is discouraging voters who want to vote from actually voting. I think that it is imperative that we facilitate the opportunity to do so.

Given what has been said I do not want to speak at length. I just want to pick up on one point that has already been referred to, and that is not so much defining a queue as determining who is in it at 10 o’clock. We have had reference to experience elsewhere. We do not actually need to go as far as Scotland or the United States. We can do it in terms of our own House—because of course if there is a queue outside after eight minutes, as I understand it, one of the doorkeepers just stands behind the queue and stops anybody else coming in. It is fairly straightforward. All that needs to be done is straightforward guidance to returning officers as to how to deal with that in a practical way. I do not see any fantastic difficulty involved, but a fundamental principle is engaged by the amendment, and we should facilitate those voters who have made the effort to get to the polling station to vote if they are there by 10 o’clock.

[Lord Lexden]

My Lords, I shall make a few comments on the amendment, to which I added my name. As the noble Lord, Lord Pannick, the noble Baroness, Lady Jay, and other noble Lords have made clear, the need for the change has been questioned on the grounds that at the previous election, problems arose in only a small number of polling stations. As they have said, that surely cannot be a strong argument against the amendment. Everyone who wishes to vote and arrives at a polling station before 10 pm must be accommodated. That is the principle from which we must not deviate. The comparatively few cases of difficulty that occurred in the 2010 election were widely publicised and aroused considerable concern, as they were broadcast on television throughout the country. That does no good for the image and reputation of our electoral system. A repetition simply must be avoided.

It has also been said that all voters should be able to make their way to the polling station well before 10 pm. Who can tell what personal difficulty or domestic problem might arise in the case of particular voters, causing them to arrive at a polling station at the last minute? The country needs the assurance that the official in charge of each polling station will devise clear, practical and sensible arrangements well understood by his or her colleagues running the station to enable all those who arrive before 10 pm to cast their votes. That is why the amendment is to be commended.

[Baroness Hayter of Kentish Town]

My Lords, it is very hard to imagine that the Government will say anything but yes to the amendment—no, I do not think that I am quite getting that message back.

I am sorry about that. I hope that between now and Report, the Government will think about the amendment seriously. The numbers here may not be as full as they were earlier, but it is clear that it is pretty widely supported. We on all these Benches fully support it. As we have heard, so does the Electoral Commission. The noble Lord, Lord Tyler, suggested that it has been left up to individual assistant returning officers. It is not fair to put it on to their shoulders, particularly if there is a TV camera looking over them at that point, whether they decide to be sensible or not; whether the queue is inside or outside; or whether, if there is more than one ballot paper because we have a multiple election, as we often do, and people have one in their hand but not the other, they are to deny them that vote. It is not fair for the decision to be on the person in charge of that polling station.

I also do not think that it is fair that if you turn up at 10 o’clock in a nice, quiet area you can wander in—as sometimes one does in the Lobby here when there are not many on our side—but if you as an elector happen to turn up in a busy area, you will be discriminated against because other people will also have turned up late.

I had not heard of the government advice to turn up early. That is the reverse of what we had when I was young: it was called drinking-up time. We used to be allowed 10 minutes that way. That suggests that the Government want us all to be there at 10 minutes to the hour. We do risk assessments elsewhere, where we look at likelihood and impact. I think that the Government are right that the likelihood of this is low. Returning officers have realised that there are cameras and that they should not do that again. The likelihood may be low, but the impact will be high both on those going to the polling station—it is serious that they cannot vote—and on those watching on television people who have turned out to vote but who are not allowed to. We do not want that. I hope that the Government will think again about this.