Political Parties and Elections Bill

The hon. Lady raises a very important issue because that is precisely the point: she takes it for granted, but actually we cannot take it for granted, because there are already 3 million people not on the register and all the evidence is that unless we move forward very carefully further hundreds of thousands, if not millions, of people would fall off the register. The move to individual registration must be conditional on the comprehensiveness of the register. We must not move first to individual registration and then hope that somehow through good luck we will get a comprehensive register. That is precisely the point.