CLAUSE 23.—(Registration.) (Hansard, 20 April 1948)

§ Mr. Gallacher
I beg to move, in page 25, line 2, after "prepare," to insert "and publish."
There are two further Amendments standing in my name and the name of my hon. Friend the Member for Mile End (Mr. Piratin). They are connected, and with permission, I will deal with them at the same time. All three Amendments are connected with the proposed register. The second of these Amendments is, in line 8, at the end, to insert: and such two registers shall be published together. I do not know the intention in the preparing of the register as it is presented in the Bill—whether it is just to be prepared by the registration officer and kept by his side, or what is to be done. I and my colleague consider that the Bill should definitely provide that the register should not only be prepared, but that the register of local government electors should be prepared and published and that, in the terms of the second Amendment, the two registers shall so far as practicable be combined, the names of persons registered only as local government electors being marked to indicate that fact, and such two registers shall be published together. We consider it important to make matters as easy as possible for those who are interested in participating in local government elections and to ensure that they know exactly where they stand as between their voting rights in a Parliamentary election and their voting rights in a local government election. In our third Amendment, we propose, in line 11, to leave out "qualifying date," and to 1700 insert "date of publication of the register." It will be seen that this, Amendment would make subsection (3) read: The elections for which any register of local government electors is to be used shall be determined by reference to the date of publication of the register in the same way as in the case of the register of parliamentary electors. We feel that if these Amendments were accepted the position of local government electors and their relation to Parliamentary elections would be made abundantly clear. There would be every opportunity for them to see the published register, to compare the two registers and to know that the date was related to the actual publication of the register concerned.

§ Mr. Ede
This Amendment is really unnecessary. There will not in fact be two registers if by that is meant two separate volumes with the names of electors inscribed therein. Owing to the alteration that was made during the war the Parliamentary and local government registers are now almost exactly the same, and when the Parliamentary register is published it will in fact be the main basis of the local government register. There are, of course, a few people who are entitled to vote as local government electors who are not entitled to vote as Parliamentary electors. Peers of the Realm are entitled to vote as local government electors but not as Parliamentary electors. There will be a few of the non-resident voters who we have included by the last two Clauses who will be similarly entitled to vote. The way in which their names will appear and be marked will be governed by the regulations which we shall issue under, the Bill, directing registration officers as to the way in which they shall compile one single volume which shall be used for Parliamentary and local government electors, certain persons being marked as local government electors only. These will not be entitled to record their vote at Parliamentary elections.
Therefore, the publication of the local government register will be the publication of the Parliamentary register, subject to the regulations which I have just described. It would not add anything to the Bill to insert the words which are proposed in the Amendment. In fact, 1701 they might be held to compel the publication of two volumes which would be almost identical and might lead to confusion. While I am grateful to the hon. Member for drawing our attention to the matter, I suggest that the point is met in the altered circumstances of the electoral law of the future.

§ Mr. Gallacher
Very often we have found that many people in the localities have experienced great difficulty in discovering how they stood in regard to Parliamentary and local government elections, respectively. However, in view of the explanation given by the Home Secretary, and trusting that the regulations will be helpful in this respect, I beg to ask leave to withdraw the Amendment.

§ Mr. Younger
I beg to move, in page 25, line II, to leave out "qualifying date," and to insert "date fixed for the poll."
This is a drafting Amendment to bring this Clause into line with the corresponding provision in Clause 5 (1) relating to Parliamentary elections.

§ Mr. Osbert Peake (Leeds, North)
I beg to move, in line 15, to leave out "an elector," and to insert "electors."

§ Mr. Younger
I beg to move, in page 25, line 37, to leave out "Subsection," and to insert "Subsections (3) and."
This Amendment is to correct a small drafting error. In cases where the register is not published on the due date, the old register remains in force until the new register is published. That provision already exists in regard to Parliamentary elections and it clearly ought also to apply to local government elections.