Political Parties and Elections Bill

I was referring to paragraph 8 of Schedule 4 to the Representation of the People Act 2000, where the reference was to someone being liable on summary conviction to a fine not exceeding level 5 on a standard scale, but I have not been able to identify precisely how that falls. The Minister will not only be right but, in due course, he will be able to correct me. I do not think that we in this Grand Committee should add to the categories that normally have a custodial sentence; we should try to make sure that the fine is appropriate to the severity of the crime and is related over time to inflation. I know that we do not have much inflation at the moment, but it is important that it should go up and be an effective disincentive to anybody even contemplating crimes of this sort. Amendment 132 is about all-postal voting. As the noble Lord, Lord Henley, knows, we are sympathetic to the point that he makes. We believe that all-postal ballot elections are completely outwith anything that we should consider in the immediate future, until the whole process of personal identifiers and individual registration is completed. The Government have not been as explicit as that, but perhaps the Minister can be now. I would hope that he could give us an assurance that that is not contemplated at present. However, I am bound to say that I am not sure how the amendment would deal with the situation; it is rather peculiarly phrased at the moment, but the noble Lord’s purpose is quite clear. I was not entirely clear from his remarks whether he wants to refer to the new clause proposed in Amendment 132AB, which seemed to have some textual complexity that was beyond me—or perhaps it was just not quite as intended. Although it referred to overseas postal communication in its heading, the amendment does not deal with that precisely at all. Effectively, it deals with communication outwith the constituency concerned. Even at this late stage in the proceedings, this is useful for clarification. In particular, I hope that the Minister will be able to give us an indication of why the Bill does not follow the advice of the Electoral Commission on verification, which is a very important point.