§ Mr. Wheelerasked the Secretary of State for the Home Department whether he has completed his consideration of the Home Affairs Select Committee's report on the Representation of the People Acts; and whether he will make a statement.
§ Mr. BrittanThe Government reply to the Select Committee's report is published today. Subject to the usual constraints on the parliamentary programme, the Government propose to bring forward legislation next Session to extend the franchise to British citizens who have left the United Kingdom in the past seven years and who were previously registered as electors; to enable holidaymakers and others unable to vote in person on polling day to apply for a postal or proxy vote; to increase the deposit to £1,000 while reducing the threshold for forfeiture to 5 per cent. of votes cast in the constituency; and to streamline other aspects of electoral procedure.
I have also placed in the Library of the House copies of two discussion papers, dealing respectively with an extension of the franchise to British citizens resident outside the United Kingdom and with absent voting, which the Home Departments have prepared for consultation purposes. Further papers will be placed in the Library as and when they are made available.