Electoral Administration Bill

I will read the answer, because this is a question of when is 11 days not 11 days? I hope that it will deal with the noble Lord’s point specifically. The noble Lord will remember that, at the last general election, the deadline for registering was 11 March, which was almost two months prior to polling day and before the election was called. Clause 11 seeks to correct that situation by allowing people to apply for registration up to 11 days before polling day. Providing no issues arise during the five-day public objection period, a person’s name will be added on the fifth day prior to the eve of poll. This is why—confusingly perhaps, it says in my notes, but certainly it took me quite a while to grasp it—the clause never refers to an 11-day deadline. Setting the closing date for registering to vote involves finding, as I think that the noble Lord accepts, the correct balance between making the system accessible to electors while not putting undue burdens on those administering the system. We believe that the Bill captures that balance. The amendments put forward by the noble Lord propose a different date. The proposal in the Bill came initially from the Electoral Commission’s report, The Electoral Registration Process. The Commission had a full public consultation and came to the conclusion that the correct deadline for registration was the day on which nominations close. At a parliamentary election, as the noble Lord will know well, this is 11 days prior to polling day. The Department for Constitutional Affairs has also consulted on this issue, as part of our discussion paper issued over the summer. Our paper was sent to parliamentarians, administrators and other interested parties, and we received more than 160 responses. The result was that 71 per cent of people who expressed a view supported the proposal to move to an 11-day deadline. All the representatives from political parties who responded thought that this suggestion was correct. It is clear that we believe that there is a broad consensus behind the idea of an 11-day deadline. Separate to the Bill, we have proposed moving the closing date for applying for a postal vote back from six days prior to an election, to 11 days before. That change is intended to give administrators more time to perform checks on applications and to reduce the administrative burden in the period before polling day. This proposal was also consulted on in my department’s discussion paper and was supported by 91 per cent of respondents. Bringing together the closing dates for registering to vote and applying to vote by post will make the system clearer for electors. Having a single deadline should make the process easier to understand and reduce the likelihood of a person being disenfranchised due to either not registering or not applying for a postal vote. I hope that that is a reasonable explanation and that the noble Lord will feel able to withdraw his amendment.