Lord Janvrin (CB)

My Lords, I find myself in agreement with the introductory two points from the noble Lord, Lord Markham. I shall try to be brief. My particular interest in the Bill is in the changes proposed to our electoral registration system. This stems from being, six years ago, a member of a committee which undertook post-legislative scrutiny of the Electoral Registration and Administration Act 2013. The committee drew attention to the obvious fact that large numbers of eligible voters are missing from our electoral registers, and we recommended at that time that improving the accuracy and completeness of the registers should be given government priority. Six years later, the problem is only much worse. As others have drawn attention to, the Electoral Commission research suggests that a staggering 8 million people across the United Kingdom are not registered to vote. Like others, I therefore welcome the intent, as recommended by our committee six years ago, to pilot new and automated methods of voter registration to remove barriers and make it easier to register. These systems are in widespread use in other countries; the technology exists. I ask the Minister about a timetable for moving forward on this. It is an urgent problem, but solutions can be found if the will is there. Let me turn briefly—and I will try to be brief—to some of the other provisions in the Bill. On political donations, I welcome the Government’s intention to tighten the rules, and I look forward to the extensive discussion, as is evidenced by this debate, on how best to do this and to take account of the Rycroft review. I add that I support the intention in the Bill to strengthen the independence and effectiveness of the Electoral Commission. It has a vital role to play, and I ask the Minister whether she is satisfied that the commission has the resources to carry out effectively the many tasks now assigned to it. I have doubts on lowering the voting age, but it is a manifesto commitment, and I can see that a case can be made to improve democratic engagement in this way. Those still in education can more readily be taught about why voting matters, and a commitment adopted early in life may stick. But this can only possibly make sense, as many others have said, if sufficient real resources are made available to schools and colleges to accompany this change. I welcome the fact that the Bill recognises that electoral interference from hostile overseas actors remains a real threat. I was a member of the Intelligence and Security Committee, which produced a Russia report in 2019. This murky domain is constantly evolving, and we are right to take it very seriously. As other noble Lords have said, we live at a time of unprecedented uncertainty, when democracy and the rule of law are in retreat around the world. We in this country are reminded daily that public trust in our ancient, hard-won and precious democratic construct is at a low ebb. As others have said, this is a real challenge of our times. Ensuring that electoral processes are free, fair and fit for purpose is one necessary way of addressing this challenge. I welcome the Bill.