Parliamentary Voting System and Constituencies Bill

Debate between Meg Hillier and Jack Straw

Monday 6th September 2010 Commons Chamber

[Mr Straw]

I am grateful to the hon. Gentleman for accepting that what he said this morning is what he still believes this afternoon.

[Meg Hillier (Hackney South and Shoreditch) (Lab/Co-op)]

rose—

[Mr Straw]

I will give way briefly to my hon. Friend, but then I must make progress.

[Meg Hillier]

Today we heard from the hon. Member for Chelsea and Fulham (Greg Hands) that the number of people on the electoral register went down after 1997; it actually went up by 2 million. At Question Time in June, the Deputy Prime Minister cited a figure for my constituency that was 18,000 short of the 72,920 people who actually voted on election day. With figures like that, can we trust anything that Government Members say when it comes to the Bill, which breaks the accountability link between voters and their MPs, who could change at every election?