Chris Rennard has been a member of the Liberal Democrat party for more than 40 years and was awarded a peerage in 1999. Chris Rennard has written his account of becoming involved with the Liberal Democrats with his book, “Winning Here”.
Lord Rennard in Parliament
Absent Voting
I agree with some of the comments of the noble Lord, Lord Jamieson, if not all of them. He makes some good points about the different gaps in and problems within our election Laws. In our Second Reading and Committee debates, many of us across the House spoke about the need to consolidate properly all election laws.
We recognise that the noble Lord, Lord Murphy, has done extremely well in bringing this Bill forward— I shall call it a small, tidying-up measure. It is still a very important principle that people in Scotland and Wales can apply online to vote as absent voters; that should probably have been done in 2022, without needing a Private Member’s Bill. We frequently have debates in which the expertise in this House highlights the need, as the law commissions keep emphasising, for proper consolidation of election laws, bringing together the legislation of 2000 and the old legislation of the Representation of the People Act. Can the Minister say a bit more about the Government’s intention regarding consolidating election law in general?
After two weeks abroad with the Inter Parliamentary Union Assembly in Geneva (400 parliamentarians from 120 countries setting the world to rights), and then with a group of European parliamentarians in Taiwan discussing issues such as security co-operation, it has been back to the House of Lords this week.
On Monday, I was working on the Tobacco and Vaping Bill aimed at preventing new generations taking up smoking.
The Government has accepted something I was pressing for in the 2022 Health Bill. Cigarette packets will in future include inserts providing advice and links to smoking cessation services.
I am continuing to press for health warnings to be printed on individual cigarettes. Too many young people take up smoking when offered a cigarette out of somebody else’s packet. Canada has found that warnings on individual cigarette papers are an effective deterrent to taking up smoking and help people to quit. I want us to follow their example and I found strong support including possibly from the Minister.
I also argued for all filters (not just plastic ones) to be removed from cigarettes. The tobacco industry set out to deceive their customers (half of whom will have their life shortened by the habit) that cigarettes with filters are somehow safer. They are not and the filters cause litter in many places that need cleaning up.
