§ 32. Mr. Millanasked the Secretary of State for Scotland why he will not intro 1420 duce legislation to give himself power to investigate the removal of elector's names from the voters roll by electoral registration officers.
§ Mr. MillanHas the attention of the Secretary of State been drawn to the recent case in Kinross and West Perth where the secretary of the local Unionist Association submitted to the electoral registration officer a large list of names of people whom he claimed were dead, including two well-known Scottish Nationalists who were very much alive, with the result that their names were removed from the electoral register after the register had been publishd? Is it not deplorable that this kind of thing could happen, and is it not a matter that the Secretary of State ought to investigate?
§ Mr. NobleI do not agree with the hon. Gentleman. I have seen the papers in this case, but a power to investigate surely implies a power to interfere with the duties of electoral registration officers. Such interference has always been excluded by the Representation of the People Act, and I do not think that Parliament would accept it now.
§ Mr. MillanThese people had their names removed for no reason at all except the intervention of the Unionist Party. Does not the Secretary of State feel that he ought to investigate the matter, as there must otherwise remain a suspicion that the electoral roll can be open to undue influence by political parties?
§ Mr. NobleI do not think that there is the slightest evidence of any undue interference. I do not know what the other two persons' political beliefs may have been—perhaps they were paired off—but I think it right that the preparation of these rolls should be in the hands of the electoral registration officer, and it is his job to check the information he gets.