GOVERNED BY OSTRICHES?

Liberal Democrat Constitutional Affairs spokesman, Lord Tyler, today (Wednesday) challenged Government Ministers to accept that the legitimacy of election results depends on the integrity of the Electoral Register.

Speaking in the House of Lords, he said: ‘Does the Minister accept that making voting more convenient, by postal voting on demand, weekend voting and so on, is much less important and should take second place to reducing fraud? Will he undertake to replace household registration with the much more accurate individual registration, which is supported by all official and independent authorities on this issue, in the forthcoming Constitutional Renewal Bill, which is due in the next Session? Does he recall the judgment in the Slough election court earlier this year? The commissioner concluded:  “There is no reason to suppose this is an isolated incident. Roll stuffing is childishly simple to commit and very difficult to detect. To ignore the probability that it is widespread, particularly in local elections, is a policy that even an ostrich would despise”’.

Yet the Minister insisted, “the system is one of great integrity and we should not put doubt into the minds of anyone about that.  Equally, it is right that we should do everything that we can to encourage people to vote, including encouraging more postal voting.

ENDS