Lords Amendment

Part of the debate – in the House of Lords at 4:13 pm on 16 March 2004.

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Photo of Baroness Hanham Baroness Hanham Conservative 4:13, 16 March 2004

My Lords, I rise briefly to support the amendment and to challenge, mildly, the previous speech. We are not talking here about elections across the country where an enormous number of people would be involved. We are talking about the experimentation in what we hope will be two regions but which the Government hope will be four. While I absolutely accept that there will be a significant number of people who will need help with the ballot paper, it does not by any means fall into the number that was being quoted.

The noble Lord, Lord Rennard, made a very justifiable point. We are in danger here of running two sorts of elections from two different departments. Last week, we went through the regulations from the Office of the Deputy Prime Minister. As the noble Lord, Lord Rennard, said, a witness signature is required. We come to the matter today. A different department is involved and there is a great hue and cry about it.

One of the aspects of the experiment ought to be to ensure we get the most secure vote. Having a witness signature to the postal vote—which, after all, is now the only method whereby these people can vote—is not beyond the bounds of possibility or credibility, and will possibly give more credibility to the vote. I therefore beg to support the amendment.