GHart speech ERA boundaries amdt, HL, 14-01-13

Group 2 Amendment 28A After Clause 5 LORD HART OF CHILTON LORD KERR OF KINLOCHARD LORD RENNARD LORD WIGLEY

Insert the following new Clause Amendment of Parliamentary Voting System and Constituencies Act 2011 In section 10 of the Parliamentary Voting System and Constituencies Act 2011, in subsection (3), leave out from (a) to and and insert not before 1st October 2018.
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My Lords I should like to make one preliminary point which is to repeat that in moving this amendment I intend no disrespect to the Clerks for whom I have great admiration and I have written to tell them that. But my Lords there is a legitimate difference of opinion about admissibility which I believe should be subject to the view of this self-regulating House.

Now my Lords, I rise to move the amendment tabled in my name, and in the names of the Noble Lords, Lord Kerr of Kinlochard, Lord Rennard, and Lord Wigley, whom I thank for their support. The effect of this amendment would be to postpone the review of Parliamentary constituency boundaries for one electoral cycle, and
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similarly delay the reduction in the number of Westminster seats from 650 to 600. It would ensure that the 2015 General Election is contested on the basis of current boundaries. And it would also provide a window of time to address the current deficiencies in the electoral register, and the likely impact on its accuracy and completeness from the introduction of individual electoral registration. As the building block on which boundary reviews are conducted, the status of the electoral register is fundamental to our system of representative democracy. And, my Lords, it is a democratic argument that I shall seek to advance this afternoon.

My Lords this amendment has two principal purposes. The first is to allow time for the new system of electoral registration to bed down and to allow for opportunities to test how far the register is complete and accurate. That is essential my Lords because the register provides the raw data to be used by the Boundary Commissions in determining constituency numbers and hence constituency boundaries. The two are inextricably linked because any inadequacy or flaw in the register feeds inaccurate calculations in terms of seat numbers and their boundaries. It has the potential to be damaging to democracy and seriously undermine the Coalition objective of political renewal and re-engaging with the public.

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My Lords throughout the Second Readings of this Bill in both Houses, and from many sides, there have been warnings that the register whatever its quality will not be sufficiently complete for its purpose. It is generally accepted that currently at least six million people eligible to vote are missing from the register. That is around 10,000 people in each constituency. And equates to a missing 88 parliamentary seats, based on current averages. This is a serious problem my Lords for our democracy which must be put right. But it is also clear that the changes brought about by this Bill with the transition to Individual Electoral Registration for all its merits will lead to a further large number of voters falling off the register. An additional blow to democracy my Lords, and to the accuracy of the raw data on which boundary reviews will be based.

Furthermore my Lords, the pattern of people who are missing from the register is not random. I have heard no one dispute the fact that among those missing from the register are likely to be the young, the very old, the disabled, those from black and minority ethnic communities, those living in areas of high social deprivation and those in private rented accommodation. Some of those groups are already the most marginalised in society. And the shift to individual voter registration without the proper safeguards which my Noble Friends on the Front Bench have been calling for throughout the
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passage of this Bill will compound this democratic deficit. It is just those groups from which even more will be likely to go missing.

The status of the register its completeness and its accuracy is extremely important. The Electoral Commission lists the consequences of a flawed register as being: 1. People being unable to vote (or wrongly registered at a polling station which is not in their local area) 2. People not being contacted by candidates and political parties campaigning during elections, or campaigners finding the people on the register no longer there 3. People not being summoned for jury service 4. Increased risks of electoral fraud and most important for my argument 5. People not being counted in setting boundaries

My Lords the move to a system of individual electoral registration is welcome, due its time, and enjoys cross-party support. It is recognised that the shift may help to tackle problems of fraud. But it is also recognised that there are risks involved in the transition.

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As I have said, it is clear that the changes contained in the Electoral Registration and Administration Bill are very likely to mean that an additional large number of voters will fall off the register, at least in the initial transition period. The Electoral Commission warns that the introduction of individual electoral registration risks bringing registration rates down from around 90% to as low as 65%.

By the Governments own admission, Individual Electoral Registration is the biggest change to our system of electoral registration for almost a century and it is essential we get it right. However, preliminary findings from the Governments data matching pilots using DWP data to confirm peoples entries on the electoral register show a success rate of around 70%. However, looking in more detail at the 14 pilot areas, some returned match rates that were as low as 55%. The Government has judged this to be a good starting level of registration for the transition, but my Lords this is a 70% success rate based on a register which we know is already missing six million eligible voters.

The shift to individual electoral registration risks disenfranchising millions of British electors. My amendment allows time for checking and if necessary taking action to put matters right.
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My Lords, my second reason for this amendment is that there is a crisis of uncertainty and confusion in terms of the administration and conduct of the next general election arising from the on-going, but seemingly moribund, boundary review. The state of limbo in which that review currently exists is both wasteful of public resources and damaging to democracy.

The Deputy Prime Minister has stated repeatedly that the Liberal Democrat Party will not be supporting the boundary review proposals when they come to the other place for voting in the autumn of 2013 and that we are not going to introduce changes ahead of the general election in 2015 (HC Debate 16 October 2012 col. 146).

However my Lords the leader of the Conservative Party, the Prime Minister, has vowed to plough on with the planned timetable for the boundary changes. Reacting to Mr Cleggs statement in August, the Prime Minister insisted that the boundary change vote would go ahead. The Coalitions mid-term review published last week pledged: We will provide for a vote in the House of Commons on the Boundary Commissions proposals for changes to constituencies.
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And yesterdays Sunday Telegraph reported that Mr Cameron remains absolutely committed to boundary reforms and is personally determined to press ahead with the policy.

This represents a significant confusion at the top of Government, my Lords which is damaging to democracy and once again undermines attempts at restoring public trust in our political system.

And the situation is muddied further by apparent mixed message within the Conservative Party. Party Chair, Grant Shapps, appeared on the Daily Politics at the end of last year, simultaneously expressing his hope that the Liberal Democrats might change their mind, whilst admitting that his Party was currently selecting parliamentary candidates on the old boundaries.

My Lords certainty is needed now because it is right that the public know as early as possible which constituency they are in and, therefore, who their candidates are to be and what they are doing and saying. This is a key element of accountability in our democratic system. Under the current proposals, voters might not know either their constituency or candidates until little over a year before the next General Election. The connection between an MP and his or her
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constituents is probably the most important element in a healthy democracy. That connection is being challenged by this impasse.

The continuing uncertainty about boundaries is having a chilling effect on selections, planning, and the distribution of resources. It is also inevitably going to be a source of concern and distraction for sitting MPs who should otherwise be focussing on their central role of representing the people who elected them.

Achieving a conclusion, and stopping the boundary review process now, will also save significant amounts of public money being wasted on a process which appears to be doomed. Government figures released at the end of last year show that the Boundary Commissions for England, Scotland and Wales have so far between them spent around 5.8 million on the current review, and related purposes, with a further likely expenditure of 3.8 million before the end of the review.

And so my Lords this amendment provides a practical solution to the political difficulties and confusion which confronts us.

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It is not a wrecking amendment it postpones the proposals for boundary reform by one political cycle.

And it affords the time and opportunity to check the results of the new system of individual registration, the biggest change in the franchise for 100 years, to ensure that the register is not simply accurate but complete, before it is relied upon by the Boundary Commissions for future boundary reviews.

In a democracy my Lords nothing is more important than to ensure that those who are eligible to vote are enabled to do so. If the fountain or well of democracy is tainted so too is democracy itself.

My Lords I beg to move.