Electoral Administration Bill

As I was saying, I see real merit in the precise set of circumstances to which my noble friend Lord Greaves referred. There may be a trade-off. There may be other disadvantages, but it is clear that there are some advantages. Whereas it is possible as the law stands to be perfectly properly on two electoral rolls, it is not legal to exercise both votes in a parliamentary general election. However, as I think my noble friend Lord Rennard will confirm, if two parliamentary by-elections take place on the same day, with separate writs issued for them—the noble Lord, Lord Norton, is an expert on these matters and he too can confirm this—it is perfectly legal to do so. When there were parliamentary by-elections in Ryedale and West Derbyshire, I came upon somebody who was entitled to vote in both on the same day. The constituencies were relatively close. However—if I may refer briefly to my former constituency—when we had a very small majority in North Cornwall, there was a lot of concern about the use of votes in two constituencies by people who happened to be registered in their second home as well as in their first.