Modernising the conduct of elections encourages participation. It can also cut costs, with the money saved invested elsewhere in our democratic processes. Fundamentally, we need as few barriers as possible to voting, subject of course to measures to maintain the security of the ballot process. I remain concerned that there are more problems with absent voting, and the abuse of the processes involved in it, than with voting at polling stations.
For some years, many of us have been hoping for a Government who will accept the Law Commission’s proposal to consolidate all our electoral legislation. The noble Lord, Lord Mott, quoted the Law Commission, and I refer to what it said in 2020:
“Electoral law in the UK is spread across 17 statutes and some 30 sets of regulations. It has become increasingly complex and fragmented; it is difficult to access, apply, and update. Much of the law is rooted in 19th Century language and practice, and doesn’t reflect modern electoral administration”.
Can the Minister please say whether the Government agree with that? Will he stand by his words, his vote and those of all his Labour colleagues in the last Parliament to end the provision for a Secretary of State to direct a strategy and policy statement for the Electoral Commission, thereby undermining its independence?
This Bill is a small step in improving our electoral arrangements. Many things need to be put in place to improve them. As the noble Baroness, Lady Smith of Llanfaes, said:
We need above all to ensure that our systems are modernised so that everybody legally entitled to vote is enabled to do so by being on the electoral register.