Local Elections:
Covid-19
(Blyth Valley)
(Con)
What safety measures his Department plans to take to help ensure
the 2021 local elections can take place during the covid-19
outbreak.
(Warwick and Leamington) (Lab)
What plans the Government have to help ensure the May 2021 local
elections are covid-secure.
The Chancellor of the Duchy of Lancaster and Minister for the
Cabinet Office ()
With your permission, Mr Speaker, I will take the questions from
my hon. Friend the Member for Blyth Valley () and the hon.
Member for Warwick and Leamington () together.
Mr Speaker
We now go to in Blyth Valley.
[V]
In 2019, I think we all took for granted the ability to run
election campaigns that could properly engage with the
electorate. Campaigning for this year’s elections on 6 May will
look very different, but now more than ever, there is a need to
engage with our constituents. Does my right hon. Friend agree
that it is vital that all those who stand for elections should be
able to convey their messages to voters, and will he please
elaborate on how he believes campaigning should go ahead in a
covid-secure way?
My hon. Friend is absolutely right: democracy should not be
cancelled because of covid-19. The polls that are scheduled for
May will go ahead, and it is important that he and others
communicate with his constituents. Of course, social media
provides one means of doing so. At the moment, door-to-door
campaigning and leafleting are not allowed because of covid
restrictions, but we will be reviewing how we can make sure that
he and others can keep faith with the constituents who elected
him so memorably just over a year ago.
[V]
The public will be expecting covid-safe and fair elections in
May. Presently, households are receiving flyers for pizzas and
takeaways delivered by individuals, but volunteers are not
supposed to be delivering leaflets for political parties,
although some are clearly ignoring that. In local elections, the
public need representatives who will speak up for them and not
for property developers such as the six leading Tory donors that
have given £4.5 million, an increase of 400%, since July 2019.
Does the Chancellor of the Duchy of Lancaster agree that if only
paid-for leafleting were allowed, that would be a disastrous
disservice to our democracy?
The hon. Gentleman makes a series of important points. It is
quite right that some political activists have been leafleting on
the ground in a way that current rules do not allow for, and we
deprecate that across the House. His broader point is right as
well, of course; we must make sure that our democratic processes
are free from any taint of interference. He is also right that
the role of property developers needs to be scrutinised when we
are looking at how we clean up our politics, and I know that he
will be as eager as I am to make sure that Unite the union does
so as well.
(Lancaster
and Fleetwood) (Lab)
The advice that came from the Government this week on local
elections was welcome; however, the most innovative idea appeared
to be to bring your own pencil to the polls, so I would like to
ask the Chancellor of the Duchy of Lancaster two specific
questions.
The first is on the use of schools as polling stations. Many
schools are having to use school halls for teaching, which would
not normally have to happen. What support will the Government
give local registration officers to find appropriate venues with
appropriate ventilation?
The second question is on the issue of elections falling into
different areas of the tiering system, which may well be in place
by May. Might there be an unfair political advantage to one
candidate if the restrictions were lesser in one area than
another?
The hon. Lady raises two important questions. The first is with
respect to schools. The Minister for School Standards, my right
hon. Friend the Member for Bognor Regis and Littlehampton
(), will be writing to local authorities and schools
today, alongside Ministers in the Ministry of Housing,
Communities and Local Government, to outline how schools can be
used in a safe and appropriate way, but we are also making
funding available to local authorities so that alternative venues
other than schools can be used where appropriate.
The hon. Lady’s second point, relating to unfairness as a result
of different restrictions perhaps occurring in different local
government areas, is an important one, and one that we are taking
into account as we plan for these local elections.
Voter Fraud
(Central Suffolk and North Ipswich) (Con)
What plans he has to tackle voter fraud in elections.
The Chancellor of the Duchy of Lancaster and Minister for the
Cabinet Office ()
The Government are committed to delivering our bold agenda of
electoral reform to strengthen our democracy and protect public
trust and confidence in our elections. As outlined in our 2019
manifesto, the Government will introduce measures requiring
identification to vote at polling stations and to stop postal
vote harvesting.
Dr Poulter [V]
The Minister will be aware that, during the previous election
and, indeed, during the 2017 election, there was considerable
concern about students potentially voting in more than one
location. Is there more that my right hon. Friend can do to
ensure that we prevent this from happening? Rather than just
relying on retrospective prosecutions, can we look at improving
the registration process to stop people registering to vote or
potentially trying to vote in more than one location at a general
election?
My hon. Friend makes a very important point. My colleague, the
Minister for the Constitution and Devolution, is looking at
exactly how we can ensure that we have effective voter
registration so that either confusion or, indeed, an outright
attempt to subvert the integrity of the poll can be dealt with,
and we will be bringing forward more detail in due course.
