New Clause 1
Political Parties and Elections Bill
4:30 pm
Eleanor Laing (Shadow Minister, Justice; Epping Forest, Conservative)
This morning, we had considerable argument, discussion and constructive consideration about what has happened in Northern Ireland. However, I reiterate that we are discussing not what should happen or has happened in Northern Ireland, but what lessons are to be learned from Northern Ireland as a pilot for what might happen throughout the rest of the United Kingdom.
As I was saying at the end of the previous sitting, there are significant differences between the situation in Northern Ireland and that in the rest of the United Kingdom. For example, in Northern Ireland, the carry-forward that previously applied was scrapped, which meant that a number of people fell off the register when they failed to re-register, as more than one Labour Member pointed out. The temporary reinstatement of the carry-forward was responsible for some 70,000 people coming back on to the register. That is an interesting illustration but the fact is that what we propose in new clause 1 would not abolish the carry-forward, so that problem would not occur.
In Northern Ireland, the annual canvass was abolished. The annual canvass, as we discussed earlier today, is an important tool to get people to register, and its abolition would have prevented some eligible people from re-registering. That is another lesson to be learned from what happened in Northern Ireland. Again, we have no plans to scrap the annual register. It is very important that there should be an annual canvass and an annual register of voters. It is one way to encourage people to vote and give them the opportunity to do so.
Before the abolition of the household registration system electoral registration in Northern Ireland was 96.6 per cent. That is unrealistically high, by its very nature. Hon. Members look puzzled, but that figure is unrealistically high. It would be miraculous if proper registration were at that level.