§ Dr. CHAPPLEasked whether the Home Secretary could give an estimate of the number of Parliamentary voters there would be in each of the next five years on the assumption that the promised Electoral Reform Bill passed into law and provided that the qualifying age was raised to twenty-five years, that those under twenty-one years of age already enrolled retain their electoral right, and that the franchise was extended to women of twenty-five years and over who possessed the qualifications entitling men to enroll or were the wives of voters?
§ Mr. McKENNAIt would be impossible for me to give the figures asked for even if the provisions of the Bill as regards residence and other qualifications were defined in the question. Moreover, I have no statistics, and could not possibly obtain any, of the ages of existing electors. If my hon. Friend desires it, and will put down an unstarred question, I can give him estimated figures of the adult male and adult female population above twenty-five years old for the five years he mentions, and can exclude aliens, paupers, and certain other disqualified persons; but that is all I can do for him.