Parliamentary Voting System and Constituencies Bill

Robert Smith Excerpts

Tuesday 19th October 2010 Commons Chamber

[Joan Ruddock]

I thank my hon. Friend for that extremely important point, and I hope that it has been heard on the Government Benches.

[Sir Robert Smith (West Aberdeenshire and Kincardine) (LD)]

When the boundaries were drawn last time, how was under-registration taken into account by the Boundary Commission?

[Joan Ruddock]

That is a matter for the Boundary Commission; I was not party to its deliberations.

I was talking about people who are not able to be at home, people whose first language is not English, and people who live in houses in multiple occupation. Every one of us who has a constituency where there are houses in multiple occupation will have seen properties in which there is a sea of mailed documents and leaflets on the floor and nobody picks them up. There are major problems in reaching people in such places, particularly those who are living in bad housing conditions. In my constituency, regrettably, we have many thousands waiting for social housing.