§ 3.35 p.m.
§ THE EARL OF SELKIRKMy Lords, on behalf of my noble friend Lord Lloyd, if it is convenient to the House, I will move the approval of these Regulations together. They refer to the same subject but to different parts of the country—to England, Scotland and Northern Ireland respectively. They are consequential on the Electoral Registers Act, 1953, which was an agreed measure and which had a speedy passage through your Lordships' House last December. By amending an earlier Act, that Act brought forward by one month the date of publication of electoral registers and the qualifying date for those registers. By amending earlier Regulations, the present Regulations make corresponding adjustments to the dates of the various stages in the preparation of the registers. The differences between the Regulations for England and Wales and those for Northern Ireland are due only to differences of detail in the procedure for preparing the registers. The purpose of both sets of Regulations the same. I beg to move.
§ Moved, That the Representation of the People Regulations, 1954; the Representation of the People (Northern Ireland) 1255 Regulations, 1954; and the Representation of the People (Scotland) Regulations, 1954, reported from the Special Orders Committee on Wednesday last, be approved.—(The Earl of Selkirk.)
§ On Question, Motion agreed to.