Electoral Administration Bill

I am grateful to the noble Baroness. I think that it is extremely important that the register should be as accurate and respected as we can make it for all possible elections in the near future. I am simply drawing to the Committee’s attention the fact that such elections may be rather earlier than we anticipated just a few days ago. As my noble friend said, Amendment No. 61 deals with the important relationship between individual and household registration. The principle of individual rights and responsibilities in our electoral arrangements ever since the Great Reform Bill of 1832 has been critical. In any area of doubt, we have surely long since abolished the concept of household suffrage. Therefore, in principle, the preference must always be given to safeguarding the position of individuals. That is what the amendment is intended to do. Both proposed new subsections of the amendment are extremely important, but the second is especially important. In addition to the reasons already advanced by my noble friend Lord Greaves, I draw attention to the difficulty that could occur if individuals feel that confidential information, which they are entitled to expect to remain confidential, is provided to a third person. That may discourage individuals from registering to vote. I am sure that the Minister would agree that one of our purposes in the Bill is to try to encourage more people to register. In those circumstances, I strongly support Amendment No. 61 and hope that other Members of the Committee will do so as well.