Local Elections (Northern Ireland) (Amendment) Order 2021

Lord Murphy of Torfaen Excerpts

Tuesday 22nd June 2021 Grand Committee

[Lord Murphy of Torfaen (Lab) [V]]

My Lords, I am grateful for the opportunity to take part in this very interesting short debate and to make it clear that the Opposition support this statutory instrument. We do so because it makes elections more transparent and because, obviously, it aligns Northern Ireland with Great Britain.

It is 48 years since I first had the effrontery to ask people to vote for me in an election, and in all those years, imprints have been a very important part of any candidate’s or agent’s job. However, it is worth remembering that it has not been quite that easy in Northern Ireland, and that fraud and intimidation have been features of the electoral system there over the last half a century. Of course, it is changing dramatically, and the law changes with it too. However, I can recall that when I first became a Minister in Northern Ireland in 1997, the then Chief Electoral Officer for Northern Ireland came to see me in my office in London and brought with him a suitcase in which were hundreds of ballot papers, every one of which was fraudulent. He was showing me how they were made fraudulently and how real the problem was in Northern Ireland.

An awful lot has changed since that time, but I emphasise that it has been different. There has been a similar situation with intimidation and political donations —certainly those that came from within Northern Ireland. On both sides of the political divide there, people were frightened to reveal that they had given gifts to various political parties for fear of intimidation and threats. It has not been easy, and it is good that we are catching up with the rest of the United Kingdom with regard to how we deal with elections, but it was different.

I have a couple of questions for the Minister. First, I saw from the notes that the department put out that there was a consultation in Northern Ireland on this change in electoral law and that the majority of people supported it, which I do. However, it would be interesting to know whether the minority who did not do so was substantial and what they said that they did not like about this change. Secondly, a number of noble Lords mentioned the important issue of a digital imprint regime and how the world has changed. For most of us, when we started our political lives, digital electioneering did not exist. Now it is becoming increasingly important. Can the Minister confirm that any change in the law on that, which is necessary, will also cover Northern Ireland?

A number of your Lordships have raised issues of stability. Of course, elections have to operate within political stability and I share the view of the noble Baroness, Lady Ritchie, about the need for a meeting of the BIIGC—the sooner the better—and that there should be more meetings with all the political parties in Northern Ireland, including with the new leader of the DUP.

However, I also want to point out that with regard to voter ID in the whole of the United Kingdom, which will come before us in separate legislation, it is not as simple as that. My experience over the years has been that we will have problems in getting older people in particular used to that system. There is something to be said for it and I am not suggesting that there is not, but one has to weigh it against the enormous issue of people deciding not to vote at all if a substantial obstacle is placed in front of them. We must acknowledge that, as well as the fact that Northern Ireland is still different. But that is for another day. I give notice to the Minister that we will be discussing that matter in much greater detail in the months ahead.

However, we support the order and I hope that the regime will start as soon as possible.