Electoral Administration Bill

I acknowledge what the noble Baroness is trying to do, and I want to address my noble friend’s amendment shortly because there may be a way of looking at it from that point of view. However, first I shall address the remarks of my noble friend Lord Campbell-Savours. I accept that in a piloted scheme, the variables must be controlled as much as possible. That is why I do not like transitional arrangements where nothing can be controlled. It is not possible to identify which groups of people would or would not participate in a random fashion across the country. Many issues would be raised. For example, if those local authorities which have come forward are the ones most keen to participate, would that play out when it was put out to a national scheme? Equally, there may be local authorities and electoral registration officers who hold particular views that might play out, and so forth. That is why it is so important to address those variables, or at least accept that they exist and find ways of mitigating against them. In my view that is the argument for pilots rather than transitional arrangements. If you have a situation where the individual is able to choose, you are not able to identify the problems. The balance we want to strike lies between recognising that we must be concerned that people are able to vote appropriately and safely, and ensuring that the register is not damaged because we have made it harder or more incomprehensible for people to participate. That is what we seek to address.