HL Deb 23 May 1973 vol 342 cc1202-3
LORD BARNBY

My Lords, I beg leave to ask the Question which stands in my name on the Order Paper.

The Question was as follows:

To ask Her Majesty's Government why the situation which allowed Pakistanis to record votes at the recent elections has not yet been regulated, when aliens are not allowed to vote and Pakistan is a foreign country.

THE MINISTER OF STATE, HOME OFFICE (VISCOUNT COLVILLE OF CULROSS)

My Lords, it is in the course of being regulated. The effect of the Pakistani Bill, which was introduced in another place on May 14, will be that Pakistan citizens who do not also hold the citizenship of a Commonwealth country will not be entitled to vote at elections held after February 15, 1974.

LORD BARNBY

My Lords, since this Question was put down before the Bill was introduced yesterday in another place, may I, with the indulgence of the House, ask the Minister (as I admit to not having had time to read the whole of yesterday's Parliamentary proceedings in another place) whether the Bill, which presumably establishes legally beyond question that aliens did vote in the Elections, also confers immunity against possible claims of invalidation in the Elections in which such votes were cast?

VISCOUNT COLVILLE OF CULROSS

My Lords, my noble friend and the House will have to wait until tomorrow for the full report. The OFFICIAL REPORT of another place only got as far as 10 o'clock and will continue reporting the subject in to-day's issue. My noble friend's premise is wrong. Aliens they may have been, in loose terms, but until this Bill is law they will, for the purposes of elections, continue to be Commonwealth citizens. Although this is a very complicated subject and one I should not wish to try to deal with by question and answer, I think the full situation will become more apparent if my noble friend reads yesterday's debate.