New Clause 11 - Power to make regulations about registration, absent voting and other matters

Part of Elections Bill – in the House of Commons at 7:15 pm on 17 January 2022.

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Photo of Cat Smith Cat Smith Labour, Lancaster and Fleetwood 7:15, 17 January 2022

I thank the hon. Gentleman for his kind remarks. It was a pleasure to serve on the Bill Committee with him. He and his colleague Patrick Grady did as much as to scrutinise every line of the Bill as I and my hon. Friend Fleur Anderson did.

The hon. Gentleman talks about extending the franchise to 16 and 17-year-olds. Much of the case made for the Bill has been about making our democracy more secure. One of the ways we can make our democracy more secure is by encouraging more people to participate in it. The more people are voting, the harder it is to swing an election unfairly. That is what we heard in the evidence given to the Bill Committee. Does he agree, therefore, that extending the franchise to 16 and 17-year-olds, who will go on to develop a far stronger commitment to voting, will actually strengthen our democracy against foreign interference in British politics?