Political Parties and Elections Bill

The noble Lord has rehearsed a number of the arguments that were raised in relation to the previous group. There is no question that concern is felt about the misuse of postal ballots, but our view is that the answer to that is right use, which is what we proposed though our amendments on personal identification and how it can be secured. There are two issues here: first, the Electoral Commission, whose comments we all take seriously, says that it continues to support the availability of postal voting on demand in Great Britain, but that changes to improve security and reliability of postal voting are none the less essential. We agree with that. It is a question of mechanism. Secondly, the noble Lord’s proposed new clause would place an extraordinary burden on the returning officers, who would be forced to adjudicate as to who is eligible and who is not. My final point is an anecdote. One of my first jobs, while still a student, was as a voter registration officer and accounting clerk in European, local and general elections in the late 1970s. The noble Lord, Lord Greaves, spoke about one particular community; I was the electoral registration officer in a pretty tough area of Gateshead. One of the problems that we had was husbands coming in with their wives to vote, peering around the corner to see who their wives were voting for and in some cases tearing up the ballot paper. Arguments would often ensue. So it is a problem that is faced by all communities, which is why we need integrity in the system and protection for everybody.