Question to the Cabinet Office:
To ask the Minister for the Cabinet Office, if he will bring forward legislative proposals to prohibit the handling of postal ballots by campaigners for political parties.
The review by Sir Eric Pickles into electoral fraud considered postal voting and identified a number of areas in which the existing rules around postal voting at elections could be tightened.
Following this, the Government will look for opportunities to introduce measures that will prohibit party campaigners from handling postal votes, and apply a limit to the number of postal ballots that any one individual can hand in at a polling station. Our intention would be for the provisions to be backed up by a new offence, and will make a significant contribution to enhancing the security of postal voting.