HC Deb 09 March 1945 vol 408 cc2415-21

12.36 p.m.

The Solicitor-General (Major Sir David Maxwell Fyfe)

I beg to move, That the Electoral Registration Regulations, 1945, dated 6th February, 1945, made by the Secretary of State for the Home Department under the Parliamentary Electors (War-Time Registration) Acts, 1943 and 1944, and the Representation of the People Act, 1945, a copy of which Regulations was presented on 16th February, be approved. The first part of these Regulations, from Nos. 4 to 12, deal with the procedure for including on the Service Register war workers abroad, and it brings in a new class of war workers. The second division, Regulations 13 to 24, adapt the machinery set up by the old Regulations in respect of the compilation of the ad hoc Register to the requirements of the Register of 7th May, 1945, and they include provisions as to the publication of lists, as to appeal and as to the supply of copies of the electoral lists and of the Register. The third division, from Nos. 25 to 28, deals with postal voting and the fourth, Regulations 29 and 30 and Part IV, deal with various miscellaneous matters. I shall be very pleased, with the leave of the House, to deal with any point on which hon. Members have difficulty.

12.37 p.m.

Mr. Alexander Walkden (Bristol, South)

I take it that this proposal is to make provision for the coming General Election. There are one or two points on which we should like to ask for information and guidance. I should like to know whether the women, members in the Forces have registered in as high a percentage as the men. In the men's case it is up to 95 per cent., which is very gratifying, but we have no information as to how women are registering and we have many inquiries about it. I am asked to suggest that more attention should be given to building trade workers. They have been affected by the policy of the Ministry of Works in bringing men up to London from the Provinces to help in bomb-damage repair and other urgent building work, and there must be some thousands who are away from their homes. We feel that, if they are to be kept in London, they should be put on the Absent Voters' List. We should ask that consideration be given to them and that notices drawing attention to the desirability of getting registered should be posted up by the authorities in the hostels or other premises where they are staying. There are many war workers abroad, we are informed, now that we have got over to the Continent, and I am to ask whether anything is being done to get them registered. They will be unable to vote in the ordinary way and should have absent voters' facilities. It is unfortunate that only a low percentage of men in the Merchant Navy have sent in applications to go on the Absent Voters' List. The Seamen's Union informs us that they have done what they can to induce them to get registered but they cannot do a lot because of the lack of paper. They cannot be free with the distribution of their literature. The men are scattered more or less over the seven seas and it will be more difficult to make arrangements for them than for other classes of people who are away from home, but we suggest that at the docks and in the ships and in the seamen's clubs all over the world if we could get public notices displayed, and the people in charge of the institutions helped in getting this registration done, it would give them a chance to take part in the election.

Sir Edward Campbell (Bromley)

Seamen who are continually going to and fro can do it more easily than other people. They ought to be able to have facilities and to have information handed to them far more easily than people who are away for a year or two years abroad.

Mr. Walkden

Those who come home on their voyages can get the information much more easily, but seamen may be plying between Newfoundland and St. Johns, Canada, or between Iceland and New York, or in South America, and not come home at all. Special consideration needs to be given to see that they all get their opportunity. We feel that the Government should appeal through the wireless and the Press to the friends and relatives of people abroad who might inform them of how things are moving in regard to the election. If those at home who know all about what is happening will keep their friends and relatives abroad informed, it will help a great deal to ensure that as many as possible vote. We feel that we ought to do everything we can to help every one to participate in this great oncoming General Election. I feel that it is going to be the greatest that has ever taken place in our long Parliamentary history and we must do our utmost to see that everyone participates in it.

12.44 p.m.

Mr. Hugh Lawson (Skipton)

It is amazing to me that, when important Regulations dealing with elections are being discussed, there should be such a lack of interest on the part of Members. It shows a deplorable lack of interest in the machinery of our democracy. I believe we should be constantly reviewing that machinery and bringing it up to date. There are one or two detailed points that I should like to raise. I am glad to see that the Government Department concerned with war workers abroad is to have the responsibility of giving them an effective opportunity. When the scheme for the registration of Service voters first came up Members of all parties had to conduct a campaign of Questions to the Service Ministers to get an effective opportunity afforded to Servicemen. I hope we shall not have to do that in regard to war workers abroad, and I hope the experience of the Service Departments will be used from the start so as to make sure that the war workers get registered. I hope that we shall not have constantly to put down questions asking for percentages of people registered, but that the Ministers concerned will report to Parliament pretty soon the approximate percentage of those eligible who have registered.

When we were discussing the Representation of the People Act, under which these Regulations are made, I asked the Government to give special consideration to the question of printing registers on one side only. I am glad that they have made that statutory in the Regulations. They have been very generous with the eight free copies of the register, two of them, if the person so desires, being printed on one side only. That will be a great help to all parties taking part in the election. There is one point in Regulation 28, paragraph (7) which reads: Where the checking of the coloured ballot papers in accordance with this Regulation is completed on the day on which the counting of the votes begins, the counting shall thereupon be adjourned until nine o'clock in the morning on the next following day. If the count has been completed, I fail to see how it can be adjourned, and I suggest that this sentence will make more sense if, before the word "completed," the word "not" were inserted. I would like the Solicitor-General to look at the words and see whether that is what is intended. If I have misconstrued it, I apologise, but these are difficult Regulations and I thought it worth while raising that point. On page 29, we see Form E, "Service Postal Voter's Application." This is the form which the Serviceman who has already registered on A.F.B. 2626 has to fill in to request a Postal Ballot Paper being sent to him.

Among other things he has to say is, "I have previously completed an Armed Forces Declaration Card for—." Then there are two lines in blank, at the end of which are the words, "Give address of civilian residence which you gave when completing AFB 2626." It must be 12 months or more since Servicemen began filling in this form, and it is conceivable that a certain number have forgotten the addresses that they filled in. I can see the possibility of some forms being invalid because of this provision. Is it essential for that information to be in, and will the Solicitor-General do all he can to see that, if there are some of these forms not filled in quite correctly and there is a discrepancy between the addresses on the Declaration Card and this form, he will see that the returning officers give the men concerned facilities for voting?

These are a few detailed points on the Regulations. If one were to criticise every point, it would mean a tremendous amount of comparing these with previous Regulations because they are of considerable complexity. Some of us who have advocated amendments to our electoral practice have been told that Proportional Representation, for instance, will not work because it is too complex. Surely, however, if returning officers are to carry out these Regulations, if they are to be understood by proxies, Servicemen and war workers abroad, and if we have sufficient intelligence to understand and work them, we could work an alternative electoral system. I will not develop that because I imagine that it is not strictly in Order. These Regulations are complex because they have to make provision against plural voting. While we cannot go into that question now, I suggest that if we could—

Mr. Deputy-Speaker (Mr. Charles Williams)

This is hardly the occasion to go into various matters, one after the other, on which the House has already given a decision.

Mr. Lawson

With the greatest respect, I was using this as an illustration of the complexity of the Regulations. I believe that the simple way of doing most jobs is the right way, and that it would have been to the convenience of everybody if we had taken the simple way here and had not to pass all these complex Regulations for the appointment of proxies, for business premises, and so on. The main purpose of these Regulations is to allow Service personnel overseas the opportunity of voting by post. I submit that is going a long way round to get the objective which the Solicitor-General and I both desire, namely, that every Serviceman and woman should be entitled to cast an effective vote in the General Election.

It is pertinent to a discussion on this complicated set of Regulations to consider wheher there is not an easier way to the same objective. I believe that there is. If we followed the precedent of the Dominions we should find that we could achieve this objective much more easily by conducting elections in the field without the complicated business of a postal vote. That matter has been raised before, and presumably we have gone past the time when we can discuss it effectively, but while I shall not vote against the Regulations—because they contain provisions which are valuable—I feel that they are not much more than half a loaf and will not be effective in getting a high proportion of Servicemen and women casting effective votes. I would much rather that the schemes which have been worked by the Dominions were put into effect, in which case we would have had a much more satisfactory proportion of Servicemen and women abroad casting their votes.

12.55 p.m.

The Solicitor-General

If the House will give me leave to speak for a second time, I will deal with the points which my hon. Friends have raised. In reply to my hon. Friend the Member for South Bristol (Mr. A. Walkden), the percentage figures given by the Service Departments in respect of Service registrations are for the members of the Services as a whole, including women, and they are satisfactory, but I will look into the point made. I cannot, naturally, speak for the Service Departments on a matter of administration like that, but the intent of my hon. Friend's question will be conveyed to my right hon. Friends in charge of the Service Departments, and, if they can, I am sure they will be only too glad to help in getting information for him. Building trade operatives, being civilians, will be registered automatically for the constituencies containing the addresses on their identity cards on 30th January. If there is any difficulty, in view of the point which my hon. Friend made, the matter will be looked into.

Mr. A. Walkden

It appears that building trade operatives are likely to be retained in London until the end of this year.

The Solicitor-General

We will certainly bear that point in mind and consider if anything can be done to meet the purpose my hon. Friend desires. With regard to his third point, it is the responsibility of the Government Departments concerned to ensure that facilities are available for registration as war workers abroad of the persons for whom they are responsible. My hon. Friend will appreciate that we have dealt with this point very fully in the Regulations, and we shall keep it well in mind. I am personally very glad at what my hon. Friend said about the Merchant Navy, as he knows that it is particularly near my heart. His suggestion about the use of the clubs and institutions of various kinds which still exist in many ports overseas is a useful one, and I will ask my Noble Friend the Minister of War Transport to see that the matter is considered. I also agree with his suggestion that every encouragement should be given to people at home to bring to the notice of those abroad the importance of doing their duty whenever that befalls.

I will pass to the points raised by my hon. Friend the Member for Skipton (Mr. H. Lawson). His first point was a general sentence of commination on certain of our colleagues for not being present to listen to their speeches with which he will not expect me to deal. My hon. Friend referred to Regulation II, but had nothing to complain of so long as it was administered in the spirit in which it was set out. With regard to Regulation 21, I am grateful for his commendation because he and I had some discussion about the point when the Bill was before the House, I do not think that we are wrong on Regulation 28 (7). It is dealing with the preliminary point of separating the Service proxies, and it is clear that you want that done the first day so that on the second day you can go on with the counting of the votes. I am always ready to look at drafting, and I will look at. this paragraph again but it does express what we desire. I do not think I can hold out great hopes with regard to an alteration in the address provided for on Form E. It is, as I see it, extremely difficult to check. There are a number of names which are very common, even in the same corps or the same unit, and again all I can do is to say that if we can find any way of helping the intention of my hon. Friend—with which I have, as he knows, great sympathy—we shall do it. That is the difficulty at the moment, the question of check. I have listened, as I always do, to my hon. Friend skating very skilfully along the edge of the Order but, not having his power of doing a verbal figure of eight, I shall not attempt to imitate him.

Question put, and agreed to.

Resolved: That the Electoral Registration Regulations, 1945, dated 16th February, 1945, made by the Secretary of State for the Home Department under the Parliamentary Electors (War-Time Registration) Acts, 1943 and 1944, and the Representation of the People Act, 1945, a copy of which Regulations was presented on 16th February, be approved.