HC Deb 17 December 1969 vol 793 cc1345-6
42. Mr. Buchanan-Smith

asked the Secretary of State for Scotland if he will extend the period for appeals from persons who consider themselves eligible for the new electoral register but whose names do not appear on it.

Mr. Ross

The period for claims and objections has now expired. I did not feel justified in proposing regulations to extend it since, if this were done, electoral registration officers might be unable to publish the register on 15th February as required by Statute.

Mr. Buchanan-Smith

Is the right hon. Gentleman aware that all the reports from the electoral registration officers indicate that many thousands of young people who should have registered as eligible were not included in the original lists? Can he say what is being done to make sure that these young people are registered in the way that they are entitled to be?

Mr. Ross

I admit that concern was expressed in the reports that I heard. It came also from electoral registration officers. Despite the care with which they conducted the canvass, they have not succeeded in getting the names of all young persons who are qualified. There has been a period from 28th November to 16th December in which to rectify the position. Efforts have been made by way of national and local publicity, including radio and television broadcasts, to try to get a better result. I hope that we shall see some improvement resulting from it.

Mr. Hugh D. Brown

Can my right hon. Friend be a little more encouraging? Is he aware that in some instances the omissions have been as high as 50 per cent. among young people? Nothing could be more disillusioning than for a young person wishing to vote to find his name not on the roll. Would my right hon. Friend make some special provision in this case, because of the peculiar nature of the problem?

Mr. Ross

We are governed by Statue in respect of all the steps that we can take. As soon as we realised that there was this considerable gap—and my hon. Friend played his part by telephoning secondary schools about it—all that we could do was to make special efforts to bring it to the attention of young people. We cannot do more. The initiative from then on rests with them.