Viscount Younger of Leckie
Main Page: Viscount Younger of Leckie (Conservative - Excepted Hereditary)Local Elections (Northern Ireland) (Amendment) Order 2021
Viscount Younger of Leckie Excerpts
Viscount Younger of Leckie
That the Grand Committee do consider the Local Elections (Northern Ireland) (Amendment) Order 2021.
Viscount Younger of Leckie (Con)
My Lords, this statutory instrument is about providing increased transparency in relation to the imprints on printed election campaign material. To be clear, an imprint is the information on election material which is added to show who is responsible for its production. It helps to ensure transparency about who is campaigning. Imprints underpin public trust in the democratic process and ensure that voters are informed about who is behind an electoral campaign.
I will begin by putting this order in context. It is part of a wider package of measures which will ensure that there is a comprehensive paper imprint regime for candidates and parties in all elections in Northern Ireland. The current imprint regime in Northern Ireland is slightly different and not as comprehensive as that in place in Great Britain or for referendums across the whole of the UK. We do not believe that people in Northern Ireland deserve any less transparency for elections than those in the rest of the UK.
On its own, this order will not deliver the comprehensive cover we are seeking. It is one of two SIs needed to create a coherent regime: this order and a separate commencement order, which will be timed to come into force together. Together they will ensure that the paper imprint regime in Northern Ireland covers parties and candidates in all elections.
This order will make provision in relation to material printed for a specific candidate at local elections. The commencement order will bring into force other measures already on the statute book but not yet commenced for Northern Ireland, which will cover candidates at parliamentary and Assembly elections, and material in relation to parties at all Northern Ireland elections.
I will explain why we are taking these steps now. While the existing imprint regime in Northern Ireland has never been problematic, in recent years the Electoral Commission has highlighted the discrepancy between the regimes in Northern Ireland and Great Britain. We undertook to bring forward the change when the legislative timetable allowed. The weight of legislation required for our exit from the EU has delayed these changes but I am delighted to bring them forward now.
It is important to understand that the principle underpinning this measure is ensuring greater transparency for voters. We accept that the Northern Ireland regime should be no less comprehensive than that in Great Britain. All voters, whether in Great Britain or Northern Ireland, should know the origin of election campaign material, who is printing it and on behalf of whom.
On transparency, some of your Lordships may remember that last year the Government brought forward a measure to remove private addresses from ballot papers. On the face of it, this may seem to run counter to those measures which protected the personal data of candidates. However, I reassure your Lordships that the Electoral Commission has produced advice on this matter and there is no requirement for candidates to have personal addresses printed on election material as a result of bringing Northern Ireland into line with Great Britain. A name and PO box address is sufficient for transparency purposes, while protecting personal addresses.
I will now explain what we are changing. The existing regime for Northern Ireland provides that only the name and address of the printer must be included on Northern Ireland election material for candidates. This differs from the regime for Great Britain, which covers material for both candidates and parties, and specifies that in addition to the name and address of the printer it must also include: the name and address of the promoter of the material and the name and address of any person on behalf of whom the material is being published and who is not the promoter.
The promoter of the material is whoever has caused the material to be published. This may be the candidate themselves, their agent or, in the case of a party, the party treasurer, another officer of the party or the party itself, as outlined in the Electoral Commission’s guidance on imprints. The format that imprints should take is, across the UK, subject to Electoral Commission guidelines. While the commission does not take a view on the font of the imprint, this essential information should be clear and legible so that it can be seen by potential voters.
Although the Electoral Commission provides guidance on these matters, it does not enforce the rules. Any concerns about non-compliance with the imprint regime should, as is the case currently, be reported to the police. I should mention that the penalties for non-compliance will not change and the offender is liable on summary conviction to a fine of up to £5,000.
I am happy to tell the Committee that the proposal to close the gap between the Northern Ireland and Great Britain paper imprints regime is fully supported and welcomed by the Electoral Commission. I should also say that as the measures relate in some respects to the publication of personal data, we have, as noble Lords would expect, consulted the Office of the Information Commissioner, which has approved the draft order.
Finally, it is of course the case that much of the election material now seen by voters does not take the slightly old-fashioned form of printed material. Your Lordships will rightly ask how this order address the transparency of the sources of political campaigning online and through digital media. The short answer is that it does not, nor is it intended to. The Government have consulted on the issue of digital imprints and have made clear our intention to bring forward UK-wide legislation to address the issue. This SI is a measure to bring the paper imprints regime into line with that in Great Britain. Digital imprints are a separate issue and will be the subject of separate legislation.
I therefore hope that your Lordships will agree that bringing the paper imprint regime in Northern Ireland in line with the more comprehensive one in Great Britain is a sensible and important step towards modernising elections in Northern Ireland. I hope that your Lordships will support this order. I commend it to the Committee and beg to move.
Viscount Younger of Leckie (Con)
I start by thanking your Lordships for their broad support for these measures. As the noble Baroness, Lady Suttie, said, it is true that it is difficult to achieve a general consensus on Northern Ireland matters and, in general, we have managed to achieve that this afternoon. However, that is not to say that a number of questions were not raised and I will do my best to answer them all.
However, before I go into that, I want to say a word or two about something raised by the noble Baroness, Lady Hoey, and some more expansive comments by the noble Lord, Lord Murphy. The noble Baroness is right: she mentioned voter ID and it is true that Northern Ireland is a leader here and at the forefront of that measure, leading the way. The noble Lord related the issue to the rest of the United Kingdom and is right to say that there are some challenges. One that he mentioned was about including older people and getting them used to the system. It is good to discuss it and, no doubt, discussions will continue.
Before I go into the substantive issues raised, I want to say one thing about security or intimidation, to address any concerns that the addition of an address to election material may lead to the intimidation of a candidate, printer or promoter—something that I did not really address in my opening remarks. It is vital for our democracy that individuals are able to engage in campaigning in elections without fear of intimidation. I want to be clear that a candidate, for example, is under no obligation to print their home address on any election material. The Electoral Commission provides guidance that the address provided does not need to be a home address; it may be a business address or, as I did say in my opening remarks, even a PO box. These changes will not, therefore, risk intimidation for any candidate and the existing law provides that the printers must already include details on any election material that they produce. However, it is only right that the people of Northern Ireland have the same levels of transparency and clarity in elections as people in Great Britain. Voters have the right to understand who is publishing and promoting election material. This order, combined with the commencement order, will do just that.
This leads nicely into some points raised by the noble Lord, Lord Alderdice, who spoke about digital campaigning. I have noted his comments, which were becoming more expansive, I think, and were supported by the noble Baroness, Lady Suttie. He asked whether the tactics were undermining the liberal process. That is a very good point, and I am sure that is a subject for future debate.
On digital imprints, just to reassure the noble Lord, we have consulted, and I promise him and others who have raised this point that comprehensive measures will be included in forthcoming legislation. The noble Baroness, Lady Hoey, asked about the timings on this. I am unable to give any timings on this particular legislation at the moment, but I shall check back with officials. If there is anything more that I can add to that I shall, of course, write.
The noble Lord, Lord Alderdice, also alluded to the point that imprint offences are, mercifully, very rare. I inform him that, between 2015 and 2020, only three offences were found to have taken place within the UK, and those were for failing to include an imprint on election campaign material. This perhaps demonstrates how well the current imprint regime in the rest of Great Britain is working. We expect the updated regime in Northern Ireland to work similarly. I hope that that gives some reassurance. It plays well into the point that the noble Lord, Lord Alderdice, made, which is that we do not believe that this is particularly contentious, and I appreciate that.
The noble Baroness, Lady Ritchie, and the noble Lord, Lord Murphy, spoke about political stability. It is very relevant that this point has been raised. I know that the noble Baroness has spoken about this before, and how important it is to have political stability—to state the obvious perhaps—in Northern Ireland. She spoke, quite rightly, about the importance of continuing dialogue and creating agreement between all parties. On current events, I was pleased that the DUP and Sinn Féin nominated First and Deputy First Ministers last Thursday following the Secretary of State’s intensive negotiations with the parties’ leaders. I hope that the UK Government’s commitment to legislate for the balanced culture and language package agreed on in the New Decade, New Approach deal, should the Executive not do so by the end of September, now means that we can move on to much more pressing issues such as healthcare, education and jobs in Northern Ireland. This Government look forward to working with the whole of the Northern Ireland Executive to address those challenges and embrace the opportunities that lie ahead for Northern Ireland.
This brings me to a point raised by the noble Baroness, Lady Ritchie, about the BIIGC. There is a date in the diary of 24 June for that group to meet in Dublin.
The noble Baroness, Lady Suttie, asked why this order had not been implemented before—why these changes had not been forthcoming. I cannot really add to what I said in my opening remarks, but I reassure her that, because of the weight of legislation required for our exit from the EU, it really is the case that these changes were delayed. As I said earlier, I am pleased that we are at this point now. It is not that Northern Ireland was entirely without imprint rules. However, the Electoral Commission has felt and has highlighted that the law on imprints in Northern Ireland was less comprehensive than in the rest of the United Kingdom and that it was important that we addressed that properly.
The noble Lord, Lord Browne, said—and he is right—that we should give thanks to those who are in the front line of organising elections. I pay my tribute, too, to those who give so much in terms of public service in this respect. The noble Lord raised a point about foreign donations—Irish donations. Perhaps I can reassure him that all donations to registered Northern Ireland parties from all donors are subject to the rules, and Irish donations are allowed; that respects the Belfast agreement principles. I shall read Hansard but, if he has particular concerns, I shall undertake to write to him on the matter.
The noble Baroness, Lady Ritchie, asked about additional requirements in terms of what we are doing today. I reassure her that, as I think I said in my opening remarks, this includes the name of the printer and the promoter on whose behalf the leaflet is published. This is no more and no less, and I understand that this information is usually made available in Northern Ireland. It sets down the requirement in law.
The noble Baroness, Lady Suttie, spoke about transparency, which plays rather well into comments made by the noble Lord, Lord Alderdice. The question of retrospectively opening up historic records from 2014 remains genuinely difficult at a time when threats to elected representatives are all too common and various measures have been put in place to protect those elected representatives. We must be very careful that nothing we do might lead to intimidation against members of the public who donated to parties. We have always been clear that any movement on this issue must have the support of all the parties in Northern Ireland, but I am not aware that any of them have raised the issue of historic transparency with us since we changed the law to bring reporting requirements into line with the rest of the UK from July 2017.
The noble Lord, Lord Murphy, asked about fraud measures in place. I reassure him that they are more stringent in Northern Ireland than elsewhere in the UK.
I believe that we are nearing the end of the time, but I hope that I have answered all the questions. However, I am aware that the noble Lord, Lord Murphy, asked about the consultation. I think I shall write to him on that. He asked about the minority of those who responded to the consultation. I do not have information for him, but I shall endeavour to write.
Again, I appreciate the general support for these regulations, and I beg to move.