HL Deb 24 October 1946 vol 143 cc703-4

5.57 p.m.

LORD NATHAN moved to resolve, That the date of expiration of Section one of the Parliamentary Electors (War-Time Registration) Act, 1944, be postponed to the thirty-first day of December, nineteen hundred and forty-seven. The noble Lord said: My Lords, my noble and learned friend the Lord Chancellor is, unfortunately, unable to be here for the purpose of moving this Resolution personally, and I therefore do so in his name. The purpose of the Resolution is to prolong the operation of Section 1 of the Parliamentary Electors (War-Time Administration) Act, 1944, for a further year; that is, to the end of 1947. The 1944 Act provided an alternative to the machinery of registration prescribed under Section 5, subsection (1) of the Parliament (Elections and Meeting) Act, 1943. The administrative and clerical operations necessary under that Act had been found to be too intricate to be put into operation, with the staff of electoral registration officers who were then available, who were neither experienced nor sufficiently numerous. Consequently, the 1944 Act provided that a person should be registered in the electoral register for the address at which he had registered in the national register as residing on a qualifying date. The Act of 1944 was to expire at the end of 1945, unless renewed by Resolution of both Houses. It was renewed last year, but the practical difficulty which registration officers would have in operating the complex procedure of that Act is still extremely formidable, and His Majesty's Government are satisfied that the right course is to continue the Act of 1944 for a further year. I beg to move accordingly.

Moved to resolve, That the date of expiration of Section One of the Parliamentary Electors (War-Time Registration) Act, 1944, be postponed to the 31st day of December, nineteen hundred and fortyseven.—(Lord Nathan.)

LORD SALTOUN

Is it not under this Act that a great many local government electors are deprived of their franchise, in places where they have considerable property interests?

LORD NATHAN

I do not think so. As I understand it, the purpose of the 1944 Act, broadly speaking, is to substitute a qualifying date for a qualifying period.

LORD SALTOUN

I see. Thank you.

On Question, Motion agreed to.