Oral Answers to Questions Debate

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Department: Cabinet Office

Oral Answers to Questions

Nick Smith Excerpts
Wednesday 23rd October 2019

(4 years, 6 months ago)

Commons Chamber
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Kevin Foster Portrait Kevin Foster
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We certainly welcome any moves being taken by the social media giants to try to remove those who are looking to distort information or inappropriately influence elections. As part of the consultation we are taking forward, we will try to achieve some consensus about how we can have a modern and up-to-date set of rules that ensures people cannot go online to sidestep rules that are very strong in the physical world.

Nick Smith Portrait Nick Smith (Blaenau Gwent) (Lab)
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Can the Minister confirm how many convictions there were for polling station fraud last year—exactly how many?

Kevin Foster Portrait Kevin Foster
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I must say that perhaps it would have been better to ask that supplementary on the next question, but I will just say that in building confidence in our electoral system, it is vital that we tackle a range of issues. If the hon. Gentleman wants to see what happens when people’s democratic rights are stolen via electoral fraud, he should talk to his hon. Friend the Member for Poplar and Limehouse (Jim Fitzpatrick).