division_name: Elections Bill
motion: <p class="indent" pid="c198.3/5" pwmotiontext="yes">&#8220;I got into conversation with an elderly lady who was frightened to go in and vote and said that she had decided not to vote as a result of the intimidation.&#8221;</p>
  
  <p class="indent" pid="c198.3/7" pwmotiontext="yes">&#8220;They came to me and took my signature and then took the blank ballot paper from me. I normally go to the polling station. I told them I was used to doing it myself and didn&#8217;t understand why it was different this year.&#8221;</p>
  
  <p class="indent" pid="c198.3/9" pwmotiontext="yes">&#8220;the majority of people in communities affected by electoral fraud are victims rather than offenders.&#8221;</p>
  
  <p class="indent" pid="c199.1/3" pwmotiontext="yes">&#8220;our well-respected democracy is at threat from unscrupulous people intent on subverting the will of the electorate&#8221;.</p>
  
  <p class="indent" pid="c201.0/2" pwmotiontext="yes">&#8220;introduction of a voter ID requirement may have a discriminatory impact on certain groups with protected characteristics who are less likely to hold&#8230;photo ID, including older people and people with disabilities&#8221;?</p>
  
  <p class="indent" pid="c202.1/3" pwmotiontext="yes">&#8220;If we believed that thousands of voters would not be able to vote because of this measure, we would not be introducing it at this time.&#8221;&#8212;[Official Report, House of Lords, <phrase class="date" code="2021-04-01">1 April</phrase> 2003; Vol. 646, c. 1248.]</p>
  
  <p class="indent" pid="c202.1/5" pwmotiontext="yes">&#8220;Since the introduction of photo ID in Northern Ireland there have been no reported cases of personation. Voters&#8217; confidence that elections are well-run in Northern Ireland is consistently higher than in Great Britain, and there are virtually no allegations of electoral fraud at polling stations&#8221;.</p>
  
  <p class="indent" pid="c203.2/2" pwmotiontext="yes">&#8220;such equipment as it is reasonable to provide for the purposes of enabling, or making it easier for, relevant persons to vote&#8221;.</p>
  
  <p class="indent" pid="c204.2/3" pwmotiontext="yes">&#8220;There is no reason why&#8221;</p>
  
  <p class="indent" pid="c204.2/5" pwmotiontext="yes">&#8220;should be treated any differently to those who continue to live in the UK.&#8221;</p>
  
  <p class="indent" pid="c205.1/4" pwmotiontext="yes">&#8220;current system of oversight of the Electoral Commission&#8212;by the Speaker&#8217;s Committee on the Electoral Commission&#8212;does not provide an effective third-party check on its performance&#8221;,</p>
  
  <p class="indent" pid="c207.0/3" pwmotiontext="yes">&#8220;of falling foul of the law through no fault of their own&#8221;</p>
  
  <p class="indent" pid="c209.1/3" pwmotiontext="yes">&#8220;spent a great deal of time accusing their opponents&#8230;of &#8216;dividing the community&#8217; but, if anyone was &#8216;dividing the community&#8217;, it was they.&#8221;</p>
  
  <p class="indent" pid="c209.1/5" pwmotiontext="yes">&#8220;The real losers in this case are the citizens&#8221;.</p>
  
  <p class="indent" pid="c209.4/2" pwmotiontext="yes">That this House declines to give a second reading to the Elections Bill, notwithstanding the need for legislation around digital imprints and some accessibility improvements for disabled voters which do not go far enough, because it infringes on the right of expression of the electorate by allowing the Secretary of State to unilaterally modify and select which groups are allowed to campaign during an election period, creates unnecessary barriers to entry for voting, makes the Electoral Commission subordinate to the executive, would serve to restrict the franchise and thereby reduce the overall number of people able to participate in any future UK General Election and does not make provision for the UK Parliament to match the devolved nations in Scotland and Wales by extending the right to vote to 16 and 17 year olds and other disenfranchised groups.</p>
  
  <p class="indent" pid="c209.4/4" pwmotiontext="yes">&#8220;dating back to the 19th century&#8221;.</p>
  
  <p class="indent" pid="c218.2/3" pwmotiontext="yes">&#8220;They can&#8217;t cite any evidence of it because I don&#8217;t think there&#8217;s any evidence to cite. In terms of this particular part of the Queen&#8217;s Speech, I think it&#8217;s total bollocks, and I think it&#8217;s trying to give a solution to a problem that doesn&#8217;t exist, and that makes it politics as performance.&#8221;</p>
  
  <p class="indent" pid="c223.0/8" pwmotiontext="yes">&#8220;When considering calls for greater regulation on non-party campaigning it is important to be mindful of the role of non-party campaigning in the broader ecosystem of democracy and pre-election debate.&#8221;</p>
  
  <p class="indent" pid="c233.0/3" pwmotiontext="yes">&#8220;The real reason these laws are passed is to suppress the vote, and that is in fact what happens.&#8221;</p>
  
  <p class="indent" pid="c234.2/2" pwmotiontext="yes">&#8220;The real losers in this case are the citizens of Tower Hamlets and, in particular, the Bangladeshi community. Their natural and laudable sense of solidarity has been cynically perverted into a sense of isolation and victimhood, and their devotion to their religion has been manipulated&#8212;all for the aggrandisement of Mr Rahman.&#8221;</p>
  
  <p class="indent" pid="c238.0/8" pwmotiontext="yes">&#8220;Robust debate has always been a fundamental part of our democracy, and freedom of expression is part of its appeal&#8212;but a line is crossed when disagreement mutates into intimidation and abuse that shuts down free debate.&#8221;</p>
  
  <p class="indent" pid="c239.0/8" pwmotiontext="yes">&#8220;third-party campaigning is a good thing, because it encourages people to vote&#8221;.</p>
  
  <p class="indent" pid="c243.0/6" pwmotiontext="yes">&#8220;The real losers in this case are the citizens of Tower Hamlets and, in particular, the Bangladeshi community&#8230;Even in the multicultural society which is 21st century Britain, the law must be applied fairly and equally to everyone. Otherwise we are lost.&#8221;</p>
  
  <p class="indent" pid="c248.4/2" pwmotiontext="yes">&#8220;If I am ever asked, on the streets of London, or in any other venue, public or private, to produce my ID card as evidence that I am who I say I am&#8230;then I will take that card out of my wallet and physically eat it in the presence of whatever emanation of the state has demanded that I produce it.&#8221;</p>
  
  <p class="indent" pid="c250.1/2" pwmotiontext="yes">&#8220;serious consideration should be given to introducing a more robust mechanism for identification of voters.&#8221;</p>
  
  <p class="indent" pid="c253.1/3" pwmotiontext="yes">&#8220;The situation was so bad that I thought there was going to be some sort of accident. I could not even open a door and we had to go down another road.&#8221;</p>
  
  <p class="indent" pid="c253.1/6" pwmotiontext="yes">&#8220;In the light of the two other groups of statements, an unkind person might remark that the policemen and polling staff had appeared to take as their r&#244;le models the legendary Three Wise Monkeys.&#8221;</p>
  
  <p class="indent" pid="c257.1/3" pwmotiontext="yes">&#8220;For me a vote is not merely a mark on a paper; it symbolises my inalienable right to choose who shall govern me and set the tenor of my life for the next five years. This right and privilege has  been won for us over many generations by brave and dedicated men and women and is a precious gift. That I have been robbed of it by some administrative incompetence is an insult to their legacy and a grave disservice to me.&#8221;</p>
  
  <p class="indent" pid="c257.1/7" pwmotiontext="yes">&#8220;Recent legislation has addressed and largely solved the problem in Northern Ireland but there has been a flat refusal to introduce similar measures in mainland Britain.&#8221;</p>
  
  <p class="indent" pid="c259.0/5" pwmotiontext="yes">&#8220;there is likely to be no evidence of fraud, if you do not look for it. Especially if a policy decision is made not to look for it.&#8221;</p>
  
  <p class="indent" pid="c259.0/7" pwmotiontext="yes">&#8220;a state not simply of complacency but of denial.&#8221;</p>
  
  <p class="indent" pid="c260.0/6" pwmotiontext="yes">&#8220;we are not able to draw definitive conclusions, from these pilots, about how an ID requirement would work in practice&#8221;&#8212;</p>
  
  <p class="indent" pid="c260.0/8" pwmotiontext="yes">&#8220;particularly at a national poll with higher levels of turnout or in areas with different socio-demographic profiles not fully represented in the pilot scheme.&#8221;</p>
  
  <p class="indent" pid="c261.1/5" pwmotiontext="yes">&#8220;tens of thousands, if not hundreds of thousands, might be impeded by this imposition, clearly it is not proportionate and could actually have a monstrous negative effect&#8221;</p>
  
  <p class="indent" pid="c263.2/3" pwmotiontext="yes">&#8220;will tackle electoral abuse effectively without disadvantaging honest voters,&#8221;</p>
  
  <p class="indent" pid="c263.2/5" pwmotiontext="yes">&#8220;that no one is disenfranchised because of them.&#8221;&#8212;[Official Report, House of Lords, <phrase class="date" code="2021-04-01">1 April</phrase> 2003; Vol. 646, c. 1248.]</p>
  
  <p class="indent" pid="c263.2/7" pwmotiontext="yes">&#8220;the Government have no intention of taking away people&#8217;s democratic right to vote. If we believed that thousands of voters would not be able to vote because of this measure, we would not be introducing it at this time.&#8221;&#8212;[Official Report, <phrase class="date" code="2021-07-10">10 July</phrase> 2001; Vol. 371, c. 739.]</p>