European Parliamentary and Local Elections (Pilots) Bill

Part of the debate – in the House of Commons at 12:33 pm on 21 October 2003.

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Photo of Robert Syms Robert Syms Shadow Minister (Office of the Deputy Prime Minister) 12:33, 21 October 2003

I thank the Minister for giving way; he has been very generous. If a postal strike took place in one of the cities in a large region with a postal voting pilot scheme, inevitably causing problems in part of the area, what emergency provisions does the Bill contain to get the ballot papers to the electorate? Clearly, if regional quotas were set and thousands of ballot papers were caught in Manchester, for example, that could skewer the quota system for the whole region. Would the election be put back? Would the returning officer have the power to get hold of those ballot papers? Some trade unions might be tempted to use that as a bargaining chip. What provision has the Minister made for that?