Representation of the People Bill (First sitting)

Zöe Franklin Excerpts

Wednesday 18th March 2026 Public Bill Committees

[Sam Rushworth (Bishop Auckland) (Lab)]

Q I want to go back and get your views on the use of bank cards. You have talked about the 16,000 people who showed up to vote but were unable to, and no one has ever canvassed without finding, about every hour, someone who that has happened to. There have only been three convictions, however, for electoral fraud. Clearly, we have to get the balance right, but do you feel that the Bill does get that balance right?

Dr Garland: I think so. I would encourage continued monitoring of it. I think that bank cards and digital IDs are very promising for making it more accessible for voters. I think that there should be something on the day as well, such as vouching or a station, to give one further option. What is in the Bill is very promising, but we need to find out if it has the effect we want it to have by continuing to monitor who is being turned away. The next general election will be the last time that that is required under current law, so that is something to be looked at. We will only know if it is working if we get the data.

[Zöe Franklin (Guildford) (LD)]

Q For transparency, I met Dr Garland along with various other democracy organisations prior to this Bill Committee. My questions are about how we make our democracy more representative. In your view, to what extent does the fact that the access to elected office fund no longer exists mean that those who are from more diverse backgrounds or have a disability cannot access standing for election?

Dr Garland: It is really important, and the more we can do to encourage people, the better. We also have to think about the pipeline, in terms of encouraging people into representative politics. Of course, many of the things that the Bill deals with around harassment once people are here are really important as well.

We are still waiting on the enactment of section 106 on candidate diversity data, which would allow us to understand more about who is coming forward and how they are being supported to do that. I would really encourage that. It is not in the Bill, but I encourage people to have a look at that—it is a really important bit. We have to know the situation through the data before we can improve things.

[Zöe Franklin]

Q On that note, I have tabled an amendment about that exact thing—section 106—which specifically asks for the Electoral Commission to be the repository. Do you think that having a centralised hub would be particularly helpful, because it would allow us to look at the data, identify where the issues are and act on that?

Dr Garland: It is really important to be able to read across different data sets and see the picture overall. That also means that we need the data to be in a standardised format, coming from each political party. There are ways of doing it that enable parties to retain control of their own data, which is also important, so we need to get that balance right. Of course, anonymity and appropriate levels of disclosure are all really important in that respect.

[The Chair]

We have 90 seconds for your question, Laura Kyrke-Smith, and the reply.