HL Deb 10 May 1991 vol 528 cc1331-3

Lord Reay rose to move, That the draft regulations laid before the House on 16th April be approved [16th Report from the Joint Committee].

The noble Lord said: My Lords, the purpose of the draft regulations is to enable the Representation of the People Act 1990 to take effect. That Act simplifies the arrangements for granting an absent vote to people who have moved house to another electoral area.

Under the Representation of the People Act 1983, people who had moved house were able to apply for an absent vote at parliamentary and European Parliamentary elections, but not local government elections. This provision was, however, repealed by the Representation of the People Act 1985 which considerably broadened the qualifying criteria for absent votes at particular elections, entitling any elector, whose circumstances on polling day are such that he cannot reasonably be expected to vote in person at his allotted polling station, to an absent vote at that particular election, including local government elections. We thought at the time that a person who had moved house to another electoral area, and who was therefore no longer close to the polling station allotted to him on the basis of his qualifying address, would have been quite able to conveniently apply, as and when necessary, under this provision. And so he can, but not really conveniently it has transpired, because he now has to do so each time there is an election. Previously, one application would have covered all elections occurring during the remaining life of the register. With the benefit of hindsight, it is perhaps not surprising that this change provoked an unfavourable response from all quarters: electoral registration staff, the political parties, and the electors themselves.

The 1990 Act provides that in future people who move house to another electoral area will have to make just one application to ensure they have an absent vote at all elections until they can go on to the electoral register at their new address. It will reduce the potential workload of electoral registration officers, and remove a bureaucratic burden from the electorate. The Act received all-party support both here and in another place.

The 1990 Act extends to the whole of Great Britain. Some of your Lordships may therefore ask why we are not also considering today draft regulations covering Northern Ireland, as would normally be the case. The reason is that those draft regulations have not yet been finalised, and we do not know when they will be ready to come before the House. Your Lordships will appreciate that there are particular problems in Northern Ireland relating to the possibility of fraudulent use of postal voting facilities, and it is those which have delayed the draft regulations.

The draft regulations now before us require an applicant for an absent vote who has moved house to another electoral area to supply the electoral registration officer with the new address where the applicant is resident at the date of the application. That information is needed to enable the electoral registration officer to confirm that the new address is not within the same electoral area, as defined in the 1990 Act, as the old qualifying address and so to decide that the applicant qualifies for an absent vote.

I commend the draft regulations to the House. They have been carefully scrutinised by the Joint Committee on Statutory Instruments, and were approved earlier this week by a Standing Committee in another place. The new absent voting arrangements for those who have moved house will make life simpler for both the elector and the registration officer. I beg to move.

Moved, That the draft regulations laid before the House on 16th April be approved. [16th Report from the Joint Committee].—(Lord Reay.)

Lord Underhill

My Lords, the House will be grateful to the noble Lord for explaining the purpose of these three regulations. As he rightly said, when the 1990 Bill was before the House, it received general approval. That was also the case in another place. We welcome the provisions as common sense and a means of avoiding bureaucracy. They will be of great help to the electors as well as to the electoral machinery.

Perhaps I may ask the Minister one question. While I was sitting down and listening to the noble Lord, I noted that there is a reference in the English and Scottish regulations which does not appear in the regulations covering European elections, namely: in spite of the reference to 'an indefinite period', the entitlement expires with the register of electors in relation to which the application was made". That sentence does not appear in the regulations covering European elections.

I hope that I have not caught out the Minister with something for which he does not have an explanation. It is seldom that the elections office of the Home Office makes mistakes. I may be the one who has made a mistake. If the noble Lord can help, I should be very grateful. Otherwise, we give full support to the regulations.

Lord Reay

My Lords, I am very grateful to the noble Lord for his general welcome and support for the regulations. As he pointed out, they have received all-party support in another place. They ought to make life simpler for those who need to make use of the provisions when they move house. With regard to the question which the noble Lord raised about the discrepancy between the regulations I am advised that the technical reason still applies. I do not know whether that answer satisfies the noble Lord. I hope that it may. In the absence of any further points, the noble Lord may wish to raise or any wish on his part to pursue the point further I commend the regulation to the House.

Lord Underhill

My Lords, if that reply means what I think it means, then I welcome what the noble Lord said. I hope that that is what he really means.

On Question, Motion agreed to.