§ 4.32 p.m.
§ Lord LLOYD of KILGERRANMy Lords, I beg leave to withdraw this Bill. As the Bill deals with very important matters relating to franchise, I have been told that it is incumbent upon me to give a fairly full explanation of my reasons for asking leave of your Lordships to withdraw the Bill. However, in view of the heavy business earlier this afternoon and because I am very conscious that over 20 people wish to speak on the next important matter, I shall, with your Lordships' leave, be as brief as possible.
This Bill is identical to a Bill which I had the privilege of introducing to your Lordships earlier this year in the period of office of the Labour Government. Your Lordships passed it without amendment or Division. However, that Bill was objected to in the other place; before it could be debated, its life was terminated by the general election. I, therefore, moved the First Reading of the present Bill a few weeks ago. The prime object of the Bill was to restore to men and women designated by the term "Service spouses", resident in the United Kingdom, certain civic rights which had unfortunately been taken away from them as a result of the Representation of the People (Armed Forces) Act 1976.
Most of the Service spouses were women and they objected to the procedure which was laid down in that Act. They remonstrated and protested. They said that they were resident in this country and, therefore, should be allowed to vote in the ordinary way as does any woman resident in this country. Some of them said that they were not going to be regarded as appendages of their military husbands on non-military matters relating to voting.
One of the matters about which they protested was the fact that under the 1976 Act they were forced to register as Service voters and, therefore, on the register of electors there appears against their names the letter "S". For reasons which I need not go into now, which not only included inconvenience to these women but also involved security matters, there were tremendous protests. Your Lordships will remember that last week on 6th 1003 December this House passed the Representation of the People (Amendment) Regulations 1979 which removed the requirement that the names of Service voters and merchant seamen should be marked on the register with the letters "S" or "M" respectively. That was one of the difficulties which my Bill was intended to remove.
Also, in the other place Mr. Cranley Onslow, the Member of Parliament for Woking, was fortunate in the Ballot for Private Members' Bills. On 9th November he was able to introduce for Second Reading a Bill to amend the 1976 Act in a more comprehensive manner than is intended in the Bill now in my name. The Bill in the other place had the support and assistance of the Government and the Opposition and has, therefore, come to your Lordships without having suffered any Division in the other place. I shall have the privilege of introducing that Bill from the other place to your Lordships shortly. Accordingly, I beg leave to withdraw the Bill at present standing in my name.
§ On Question, Bill, by leave, withdrawn.