Service Voters’ Registration Period Order 2010

My Lords, I join this debate having been knocking on electoral reform doors for many months. I thank the Minister for his generous patience during those months, although he has not answered the questions entirely to my satisfaction. This is a timid order; we need something far more robust. When I first came here, or a year afterwards, I wondered whether in Christian Aid week we could have various denominations, possibly even based on various faiths, taking Prayers in the Chamber. I went to see one of the Clerks, who said, "Well, the last time we had any real change was in 1979". I asked what happened then, and he said that before that date the bishops had to choose one of three psalms to read and that in 1979 they were allowed to choose one of 10. That is very slow progress, and so is this. A lot could have been done in the past few months, but it has not been done. I raised this question before and had quite a helpful reply from the Minister. Could it be made automatic that when someone signs up for the Armed Forces they are automatically included on an electoral register? Automatic registration would mean a 100 per cent response rate instead of the 65 per cent that we have now. Other things can also be done and we need to look at them. With the election coming in early May, we are told that it is too late to think of any major change in the coming weeks. I am sure that it is. It was not three months ago, but it is now. When we look at major change, we must look at the whole timetable for elections. The Electoral Commission suggests 25 days between nomination and polling day. That is a long time. At present with local elections there are 19 days between nomination day and polling day. For parliamentary elections, it is only 11 days between nomination day and polling day. This year, with the English local authorities that will have elections in May, there will be great confusion, with the 19 days here and the 11 days there. After the election, can we not have a look at the timetable and not be bound entirely by one that does not meet the needs of people today? In 1997, there were fewer than 1 million postal voters in the whole of the UK. At the European elections, there were 6.1 million, and we could very well reach 8 million at the coming election—an increase of between eight or nine-fold. With that sort of increase, there will be added pressure on election offices throughout the country. Will there be cuts or will they get added staff, and will the staff be trained? When a department is under pressure, it can make mistakes. This does not only relate to the military, but if there are mistakes then results can be challenged in various constituencies. With a very close result, when no one party has a sufficient command of seats to form a Government immediately after an election, as with the hanging chads in the United States there may be disputes and people appealing against results. I am warning noble Lords that that could happen. I hope that it does not, but under stress it could happen. That could apply to the postal votes with the military overseas. We will need to get postal ballots out to them safely in places such as the Falklands and Afghanistan in 19 days and get them returned in time to be included in the count. Is that going to happen? Can it happen, especially as the delivery of mail will not be infallible? Some time ago, I was told that a military aeroplane would be at our disposal to take ballot papers from the UK out to Afghanistan, but only if operationally possible. I do not want to be emotional about this but we may end up with the situation where troops, many of whom are sacrificing their lives every day for the United Kingdom, are not allowed to vote in the United Kingdom. Today the Minister may only be able to give a timid response, but after the election, whichever party is in power, I hope that we will be able to take a thorough look at this matter to ensure that unnecessary pressure and stress is not felt by the organisers and that people, whether they are overseas or here, are able to exercise their vote, as everyone is supposed to be able to do. I do not know who will be sitting there after the election but I ask the Minister to promise us a thoroughgoing review of this matter once the election is over in order to sort out all the difficulties. The Electoral Commission’s advice has been rejected by the Government but we have to make a thorough start or there will be a repeat of this problem many times in the future.