§
Amendments made: No. 6, in page 2, line 34, leave out
'or, as the case may be, at which he was resident'.
No. 7, in page 2, line 42, leave out from beginning to 'and' in line 43.
No. 8, in page 3, line 5, leave out 'and'. —[Mr. Britton.]
Mr. BrittonI beg to move amendment No. 9, in page 3, line 9, at end insert
and,(e) that the declarant has not formed the intention to reside permanently outside the United Kingdom'.
Mr. Deputy SpeakerWith this we shall take amendment (a) to the proposed amendment, in line 2, leave out
'has not formed the intention'and insert 'does not intend'.
§ Mr. BrittanThese amendments deal with a declaration required from an overseas elector about his intentions with regard to whether he will reside permanently outside the United Kingdom. The House will recall that that was one of the most anxious of matters that was discussed at an earlier stage. I accept that it is appropriate that a declaration of the right kind should be made by anybody who is seeking to vote if outside the United Kingdom. Two forms of declaration have been offered. One is that the declarant
has not formed the intentionto reside permanently outside the United Kingdom and the other is simply that he "does not intend" to reside permanently outside the United Kingdom. The latter has been proposed by the Opposition and I am content to accept it as a form of words preferable to that which I had originally proposed. Therefore, I invite the House to agree to amendment (a).
§ Mr. BarronThe House will appreciate that this is the third occasion on which I have tabled an Opposition amendment and the Minister has accepted it. I am only sorry that he did not see fit to do so when we discussed new clause 28 in Committee.
I am pleased that the Government have decided to accept amendment (a). I discussed it with my hon. Friend the Member for Bolsover (Mr. Skinner) who, as everyone will know, is a parliamentary expert on grammar. He felt, as did my right hon. and hon. Friends, that the phrase
has not formed the intentionwould be much better replaced by the phrase "does not intend". When reading the Bill, I am sure that many people outside the House will agree with that.416 Amendment to the proposed amendment agreed to.
Amendment, as amended, agreed to.
Amendments made: No. 10, in page 3, line 15, leave out from beginning to 'specify' in line 22 and insert
'specify the address in respect of which he was registered and may not'.No. 11, in page 3, line 26, leave out'or, as the case may be, at which he was resident'.—[Mr. Mellor.]