UK Parliament / Open data

Electoral System

Opposition day on Monday, 26 February 2007, in the House of Commons, led by Oliver Heald. The answering member was Bridget Prentice.
Electoral systems. Seventh opposition day debate (part 2). Motion negatived on division (282 to 219). Amendment agreed on division (277 to 210).

About these Parliamentary proceedings

Reference

457 c688-736 

Session

2006-07

Department

Department for Constitutional Affairs

Chamber / Committee

House of Commons chamber

Related items

Review of the Electoral Commission. Committee on Standards in Public Life eleventh report. (Chairman : Sir Alistair Graham). (Includes CD-ROM)
Thursday, 18 January 2007
Command papers
House of Commons

Proceeding contributions

Speaker | 457 c705 (Link to this contribution) Order. I remind the House that there is a 10-minute limit on Back-Bench speeches, which applies from...
Oliver Heald | 457 c690-1 (Link to this contribution) Not for a moment. In June 2004, the Government imposed all-postal voting in the face of cross-party...

Show all contributions (112)
Bridget Prentice | 457 c694 (Link to this contribution) I have not mentioned postal votes yet, but the hon. Gentleman has raised an important issue about se...
Simon Hughes | 457 c691 (Link to this contribution) I am grateful to the hon. Gentleman. He has pursued this matter assiduously and has rightly said tha...
Oliver Heald | 457 c691 (Link to this contribution) The recommendation that Sir Alistair Graham has made is that we should actually get together and tal...
Oliver Heald | 457 c691-3 (Link to this contribution) No, I think the hon. Gentleman has had a good go. The Electoral Commission said in May 2005 that ho...
Gordon Prentice | 457 c694 (Link to this contribution) Did the Government ever give consideration to my suggestion—some people thought that it was slightly...
Bridget Prentice | 457 c694 (Link to this contribution) We always consider my hon. Friend’s suggestions carefully, although we have not, as yet, decided to ...
Daniel Kawczynski | 457 c694 (Link to this contribution) The Minister seems to be implying that the new system of postal voting will help those 3 million peo...
Oliver Heald | 457 c688-9 (Link to this contribution) I beg to move,"That this House believes that all electors are entitled to a free, fair and secure vo...
David Leslie Taylor | 457 c689 (Link to this contribution) The hon. Gentleman refers, rightly, to the turning point being in 2000, when postal votes on demand ...
Speaker | 457 c688 (Link to this contribution) I inform hon. Members that Mr. Speaker has chosen the amendment in the name of the Prime Minister. P...
Oliver Heald | 457 c689 (Link to this contribution) The right hon. Lady has obviously struck a chord in the House. I noticed many hon. Members saying th...
Oliver Heald | 457 c689 (Link to this contribution) The hon. Gentleman may have missed the point that I made just a moment ago, which is that the aim of...
Jane Kennedy | 457 c689 (Link to this contribution) I am grateful to the hon. Gentleman for giving way, because I know that many Members want to speak, ...
George Galloway | 457 c713-5 (Link to this contribution) I shall not go down that road, because the Conservative party started the deterioration of Governmen...
Bob Spink | 457 c713 (Link to this contribution) Does the hon. Gentleman believe that a better way to improve voter participation would be to reintro...
George Galloway | 457 c713 (Link to this contribution) Like the hon. Member for Spelthorne (Mr. Wilshire), I wish that I had more than 10 minutes, because ...
David Wilshire | 457 c710-3 (Link to this contribution) It might help the few of us who are here if I explain my involvement in this issue. I happen to be o...
Lord Horam | 457 c710 (Link to this contribution) My hon. Friend makes a very sound point. Indeed, that matter has been seized by the Electoral Commis...
Lord Horam | 457 c709 (Link to this contribution) I am sorry to hear that they will not rule it out. Frankly, it was a fiasco, which shows once again ...
Nicholas Winterton | 457 c709 (Link to this contribution) Could my hon. Friend put a question to the Government for me? Is it more important to have an electi...
Lord Horam | 457 c709-10 (Link to this contribution) Perhaps the Minister will respond to that question when he winds up the debate. What can be done ab...
Bob Spink | 457 c710 (Link to this contribution) Does my hon. Friend share my concern that electoral registration officers are a law unto themselves?...
David Wilshire | 457 c708 (Link to this contribution) Just because voting goes down when we check up on these things, it does not automatically mean that ...
Lord Horam | 457 c707-8 (Link to this contribution) I hope that the hon. Member for Birmingham, Sparkbrook and Small Heath (Mr. Godsiff) will have a fur...
Philip Davies | 457 c709 (Link to this contribution) Does my hon. Friend agree that the all-postal voting trial caused considerable damage to the elector...
Lord Horam | 457 c708-9 (Link to this contribution) Indeed. That is the important point. The primacy of fraud should be recognised. It is very important...
Speaker | 457 c707 (Link to this contribution) Order. The hon. Gentleman has had his 10 minutes.
Roger Godsiff | 457 c705-7 (Link to this contribution) The integrity of the electoral system is the cornerstone of a properly functioning democracy. Prior ...
Bridget Prentice | 457 c698-9 (Link to this contribution) Unlike the hon. Gentleman, I take my obligations seriously. The Council of Europe has not done such ...
Bridget Prentice | 457 c698 (Link to this contribution) I give way to the hon. Gentleman—I believe that he voted for the motion.
Bridget Prentice | 457 c697-8 (Link to this contribution) I agree with my right hon. Friend. I do not wish to be partisan during this debate because I believe...
Jane Kennedy | 457 c697 (Link to this contribution) We have discovered in Liverpool a quite deliberate attempt by a Liberal Democrat councillor, Council...
Bridget Prentice | 457 c697 (Link to this contribution) I will not give way again. We have been working with the Electoral Commission and the police to rai...
Bridget Prentice | 457 c697 (Link to this contribution) I am delighted to respond to the hon. Gentleman, who has much experience of dealing with elections. ...
Bridget Prentice | 457 c696 (Link to this contribution) The police should have to investigate any criminal activity wherever they find it. That applies whet...
Philip Davies | 457 c696 (Link to this contribution) I did not say that the police should not investigate electoral fraud. My point was that they should ...
Bridget Prentice | 457 c696 (Link to this contribution) I really would like to move on because several Back Benchers wish to speak and the debate has been c...
Bridget Prentice | 457 c695 (Link to this contribution) My hon. Friend makes the point extremely well. In the last six years, there have been 25,000-plus el...
David Leslie Taylor | 457 c695 (Link to this contribution) The Minister rightly points out that the vast bulk of allegations of electoral malpractice do not in...
Bridget Prentice | 457 c695-6 (Link to this contribution) I am most certainly not—unlike the hon. Member for Shipley (Philip Davies), who seemed to think that...
Oliver Heald | 457 c695 (Link to this contribution) The Committee on Standards in Public Life lists examples of the sorts of cases it is talking about. ...
Bridget Prentice | 457 c695 (Link to this contribution) I was going to come to the Committee on Standards in Public Life later, but I will come to it now. S...
Simon Hughes | 457 c703-5 (Link to this contribution) That may be so. I do not wish to underplay the problem, but I am trying to make sure that we get the...
Simon Hughes | 457 c703 (Link to this contribution) We are all engaged in the debate about citizenship and the way in which we maximise participation in...
David Wilshire | 457 c703 (Link to this contribution) What is the point of registering if one does not vote?
Simon Hughes | 457 c702 (Link to this contribution) That is absolutely true. In Northern Ireland, the figures went down a little when the new systems we...
David Wilshire | 457 c703 (Link to this contribution) I thought that I heard the hon. Gentleman say that he was in favour of financial inducements to vote...
Simon Hughes | 457 c703 (Link to this contribution) I was saying that there might be a statutory form of inducement to register to vote, but it would no...
Simon Hughes | 457 c702 (Link to this contribution) Seriously, it could take place everywhere. [Interruption.] I heard that mischievous suggestion on th...
Brian Binley | 457 c701 (Link to this contribution) Does the hon. Gentleman agree that, although the Minister mentioned that the Government had allocate...
Simon Hughes | 457 c700-1 (Link to this contribution) He may have lost; I am not sure. The hon. Member for Northampton, South made the point that the peop...
Jim Devine | 457 c701 (Link to this contribution) As the hon. Gentleman knows, I live in his constituency, and I am impressed by the local electoral r...
Simon Hughes | 457 c701 (Link to this contribution) I have not done the maths, so I do not know exactly what the figures are, but it sounds to me as tho...
Lord Beith | 457 c701 (Link to this contribution) My hon. Friend understands the importance of that work. When the Select Committees on Constitutional...
Simon Hughes | 457 c701 (Link to this contribution) I am grateful for that, and I am happy to have the hon. Gentleman in my constituency, as he knows; h...
Simon Hughes | 457 c699-700 (Link to this contribution) I welcome this debate, and I congratulate the hon. Member for North-East Hertfordshire (Mr. Heald) o...
Simon Hughes | 457 c700 (Link to this contribution) The armed services is the most significant general category, and my hon. Friends and I have made tha...
Daniel Kawczynski | 457 c717 (Link to this contribution) At this stage, I have not; I am still compiling the evidence, and if anything can be proved, I shall...
Daniel Kawczynski | 457 c716-7 (Link to this contribution) Yes, but if the hon. Gentleman reads tomorrow’s Hansard, he will realise that I have not made such a...
Jim Devine | 457 c717 (Link to this contribution) I am very grateful to the hon. Gentleman for giving way again. As MPs, we get confidential informati...
Daniel Kawczynski | 457 c715-6 (Link to this contribution) Much has been said about fraud, but the other problem is when constituents are unaware of their righ...
Simon Hughes | 457 c721 (Link to this contribution) I quoted the figures from the report from the Committee on Standards in Public Life. Does the hon. G...
David Leslie Taylor | 457 c720 (Link to this contribution) Yet again the figure of 342 is bandied around. Do not the great majority of the cases relate to elec...
Jonathan Djanogly | 457 c720 (Link to this contribution) Today’s has been an important debate that has addressed perhaps the most basic and fundamental issue...
Jim Devine | 457 c724 (Link to this contribution) It has been alleged that the present system is advantageous for the Labour party, but I have checked...
David Cairns | 457 c724 (Link to this contribution) We have had an interesting, lively and at times informed debate on an important topic. Hon. Members ...
Jonathan Djanogly | 457 c721-4 (Link to this contribution) The hon. Gentleman and I stated different figures. There are figures and there is a serious problem....
Nicholas Winterton | 457 c719-20 (Link to this contribution) I do not need to be reminded even by the Opposition Whip, my hon. Friend the Member for Bournemouth,...
Nicholas Winterton | 457 c719 (Link to this contribution) I am trying to be balanced and responsible. I am concerned about the House and ensuring that those e...
Daniel Kawczynski | 457 c717 (Link to this contribution) I wholly disagree. The House of Commons is our Chamber where we should discuss such issues and where...
Simon Hughes | 457 c717 (Link to this contribution) Like the hon. Gentleman, I represent a broad community, which includes post offices, and I think tha...
Daniel Kawczynski | 457 c718 (Link to this contribution) I understand what the Minister says, but she has still not explained the Government’s policy on post...
Bridget Prentice | 457 c717-8 (Link to this contribution) At my meeting with the hon. Gentleman I explained in considerable detail what should be done. As the...
Daniel Kawczynski | 457 c718 (Link to this contribution) I wholly agree. Postal voting has given rise to serious issues and the Government are being far too ...
Nicholas Winterton | 457 c718 (Link to this contribution) May I suggest that my hon. Friend puts this question to the Minister—is she satisfied with the secur...
David Wilshire | 457 c719 (Link to this contribution) I am sure that my hon. Friend is absolutely right. Does he agree that for most of our lives we lived...
Nicholas Winterton | 457 c718-9 (Link to this contribution) I had not intended to speak, but I have been moved by a number of the speeches made during this shor...
David Cairns | 457 c728-9 (Link to this contribution) No, I only have a few minutes left. The hon. Member for North Southwark and Bermondsey mentioned th...
David Cairns | 457 c727 (Link to this contribution) I intended to deal with that when I responded to the hon. Gentleman’s remarks. We have only just rec...
David Cairns | 457 c727-8 (Link to this contribution) I will not give way. We took steps in the Act to maximise the register. We gave additional resource...
Chris Bryant | 457 c725-6 (Link to this contribution) I am grateful to my hon. Friend for giving way, not least because I have not been able to attend the...
David Cairns | 457 c726 (Link to this contribution) That sounds a particularly bonkers state of affairs that Plaid Cymru has managed to engineer in my h...
Fraser Kemp | 457 c725 (Link to this contribution) The tenor of our debate suggested that electoral maladministration has occurred only since the incre...
David Cairns | 457 c725 (Link to this contribution) From memory, I believe that 49 allegations were made in 2000, before the extension of postal voting,...
Lord Horam | 457 c725 (Link to this contribution) I merely pointed out the fact that there were 93 more Labour Members in England, even though the Con...
David Cairns | 457 c725 (Link to this contribution) Why is it advantageous to the Labour party to ensure that everyone who is entitled to vote is on the...
David Cairns | 457 c725 (Link to this contribution) I see that he has done so. I shall accept his intervention in a second. The party that waxed lyrical...
Simon Hughes | 457 c727 (Link to this contribution) I hope that the Minister is about to say that in view of the clear recommendations from the Committe...
Oliver Heald | 457 c726 (Link to this contribution) The central allegation being made is that the Government are soft on fraud. They are ignoring the ad...
David Cairns | 457 c726-7 (Link to this contribution) The hon. Gentleman knows very well that 20 per cent. is a minimum figure and that in some areas far ...
Jonathan Djanogly | 457 c720-1 (Link to this contribution) The Minister and her Back Benchers are too complacent on this issue. [Interruption.] Yes. Looking at...
Bridget Prentice | 457 c693-4 (Link to this contribution) I beg to move, To leave out from ““House”” to the end of the Question, and to add instead thereof:"“...
Oliver Heald | 457 c690 (Link to this contribution) My hon. Friend makes an important point. When the Committee on Standards in Public Life examined the...
Jim Devine | 457 c716 (Link to this contribution) Will the hon. Gentleman make it clear what he is suggesting? He appears to be suggesting that these ...
David Cairns | 457 c724 (Link to this contribution) My hon. Friend is correct that it was alleged that the current system benefits Labour, but that alle...
Brian Binley | 457 c696-7 (Link to this contribution) I first ran an election as an agent in 1966. Electoral registration officers were an important part ...
Oliver Heald | 457 c695 (Link to this contribution) It is not just me; it is the Committee on Standards in Public Life—the most senior body in this coun...
Philip Davies | 457 c689-90 (Link to this contribution) In Bradford, there have unfortunately been quite a number of complaints about electoral fraud, and B...
David Wilshire | 457 c698 (Link to this contribution) No, I was the person who tabled it. The Council of Europe has decided that there is a prima facie ca...

Subjects

Committee on Standards in Public Life
Fraud
Electoral Commission
Electoral register
Electoral systems
Voting methods

Link

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