Political Parties and Elections Bill

This amendment, which is in the form of a new clause, deals with an important issue: the enfranchisement of military service personnel to vote in our elections. I shall set out some of the background of how the amendment came about. Before 2001, service personnel were registered on the electoral register through the Ministry of Defence. That was changed to relieve the administrative burden on the ministry and apply a greater focus to local authorities, which were then able to remove those who were no longer resident. That period was marked by poor administration, but all service personnel were registered during that time. The 2001 changes resulted in the number of service personnel not included on the register increasing quite dramatically. The number of service voters in Great Britain on 16 February 2001 was 175,475. The same figure for 4 December 2006 was 21,006. Those people, probably more than any other citizens in this country, have due cause to have a close interest in the foreign, defence and security policies of this country. Under the terms of the Representation of the People Act 2000, the time limit on the validity of a service declaration for service registration was changed by the Secretary of State from every year to every three years. It was designed to coincide with three-year postings, which have diminished currency during the period. The current situation is that service personnel and their husbands, wives and civil partners are able to register as an ordinary voter or as a service voter. Those based overseas can also register as overseas voters, but as this limits the type of elections they can vote in, it is not recommended for service personnel. Those registered as service voters are registered at a fixed address in the United Kingdom, even if they move around, and is therefore used for those moving frequently or deployed overseas. They are required to re-register every three years. Ordinary voters must of course renew this annually. I want to quote some survey data in support of this amendment from the Armed Services Association. It carried out a survey that was published in July 2008. It surveyed a large sample of the Army personnel—8,719—and therefore I believe that the findings have veracity. It found that only 69 per cent of service personnel were registered to vote; only 62 per cent of armed service respondents reported that they were registered. Most worryingly, only 43 per cent of overseas personnel were registered to vote. Some 31 per cent of personnel who were not registered to vote said that they did not receive an electoral registration form. Seventy per cent of units had still not held a service electoral registration day, informing personnel how to register to vote. Local authority electoral registration officers are keen to ensure that service personnel continue to have the option of being registered as ordinary electors rather than returning to the pre-2001 mandatory service-personnel registration system administered by the Ministry of Defence. That is why we have tabled this amendment. The proposed course of action in the Political Parties and Elections Bill is to amend the Representation of the People Act, specifically Section 15, to include a service declaration. Subsection (2)(a) of that section is removed, but it provides for the electoral registration officer to determine after a 12-month period whether or not a person is entitled to be registered. The effect of the above changes in the new clause would be to allow service personnel to continue to decide whether they would wish to be registered as individual electors or as service voters. Where an individual decided to register as a service voter, there would be an obligation on the Ministry of Defence to co-ordinate with local authority registration officers on the information that they maintain to ensure that service personnel are registered. I beg to move.