Electoral System

No, I think the hon. Gentleman has had a good go. The Electoral Commission said in May 2005 that household registration should be replaced with a system of individual voter registration and repeated that point again during the course of the debates on the Electoral Administration Bill. In its briefing for this debate, it says that"““the Commission remains concerned that its recommendation for a system of individual voter registration to underpin the security of the voting system has not been adopted””." It is not the only voice. There is cross-party support, and in its recent report on the Electoral Commission, the Graham committee looked at this issue. It pointed to the success of individual voter registration in Northern Ireland, which has the most accurate and comprehensive register in the UK. [Interruption.] The Under-Secretary of State for Constitutional Affairs, the hon. Member for Lewisham, East (Bridget Prentice), scoffs, but the Government themselves have described individual registration as"““central to enhancing the accuracy of, and confidence in, the electoral register in Northern Ireland.””" Both the current electoral registration officer for Northern Ireland, Douglas Bain, and his predecessor, Denis Stanley, have told me that they are confident that those who are on the register are those entitled to vote. Indeed, in previous debates hon. Members from Northern Ireland have confirmed that. The Graham committee recommends implementation of individual voter registration and that the political parties should start discussions now. It is now over to the Minister; let us get on and do this. It is even said now that the Leader of the House expressed sympathy with that view in a meeting with Lobby journalists last week. The Graham committee compiled evidence of 342 cases of electoral malpractice and criticised the lack of central monitoring. It pointed to three main risks: fraudulent registration, impersonation at the polling station and misuse of postal votes. It highlighted the ““perennial difficulty”” of detecting fraud and called for the research to which I have referred. On impersonation at the polling station, the Minister’s answer in the Electoral Administration Act was that someone should sign for their ballot paper when they attend the polling station. Unfortunately, the measure was so badly drafted in the Act that she is not able to implement it, so will she explain how she now intends to proceed? The Committee on Standards in Public Life described the measure as ““not remotely strong””, but now we have nothing at all. On postal voting, in addition to individual voter registration, the committee suggests ““an objective identifier””. Has the Minister had any further thoughts on this, or is she saying that we have to wait for the identity cards database, as some of the consultation documents suggest? We believe that the national insurance number, as in Northern Ireland, is best suited to the purpose without any of the lengths of intrusion or expense of ID cards. Important elections take place in May. No proper checks are being made on the accuracy of the register. It is still possible for the so-called head of household to fill in names on the register and there is no simple way of checking that they even exist. The measures to protect voting at the polling station with signatures for ballot papers cannot be implemented. We are told by the Graham committee that only 20 per cent. of postal votes are proposed to be checked for the correct signature and date of birth, and the extra requirements of a signature and date of birth cannot be checked electronically. We cannot be satisfied that these votes will be secure. The Government are going even further and, despite all the reservations of experts in the field who say that it is dangerous, they are moving ahead with their idea of e-voting. The Foundation for Information Policy Research said that the only way to allow electronic voting is"““through machines controlled by election officials that produce an auditable paper trail. Anything else is an invitation for fraud to hackers and virus writers””." However, that is what the Minister thinks we should have in this country; that is what she is doing with her pilots. The Council of Europe, which has sent its rapporteurs here, has noted in a recent resolution"““a growing body of evidence that widespread absent vote fraud is taking place in the UK””." The rapporteurs are investigating, and I understand that the Minister and I are to meet them tomorrow, although separately. Will she finally give us the good news that the Government will concede individual voter registration? Is she really not prepared to accept the recommendations of the Committee on Standards in Public Life and start a dialogue? The committee has already rubbished half the job that the Government gave to the Electoral Commission, but on the other half, the central point that the commission, which the Government set up, is making is that the missing piece in the jigsaw is individual voter representation in a country where the individual has the right to vote. Is she really happy for this country to continue to be embarrassed and shamed at home and abroad by not having the sort of free, fair and secure electoral system that is our birthright in Britain, which has the mother of all Parliaments?