§ 4. Mr. Keelingasked the Secretary of State for the Home Department whether he will publish in the OFFICIAL REPORT a list of the classes of servants of the Crown abroad to be enfranchised in accordance with Section 6 of the Repre- 1003 sentation of the People Act, 1948; and a copy of the instructions given to them, in accordance with Section 71, to assist them and their wives in the exercise of the franchise.
§ Mr. EdeThe classes of Crown servants in question will be prescribed by regulations which must be approved by both Houses of Parliament before they come into force, and until then no instructions can be issued. The drafting of regulations dealing with this among other matters is in hand but will take some time to complete.
§ 20. Mr. Lipsonasked the Secretary of State for the Home Department if he will extend to the wives of members of the Control Commission in Germany the right to vote by proxy at elections in this country at present granted only to their husbands.
§ Mr. EdeThe Representation of the People Act, 1948, provides for this, with effect from the coming into force of the 1949 autumn register.
§ Mr. LipsonIs the Home Secretary aware that an officer of the Control Commission has been informed that his wife is not eligible to have a vote? Can he be informed that she will be?
§ Mr. EdeThis particular piece of legislation does not come into effect until the autumn register of 1949. The officer may have been correctly informed as to the existing law, which will be altered when the register to which I have referred is compiled.