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Electoral Administration Bill

I accept postal voting for people who for good reasons cannot get to the polling station, although I would much prefer to open polling stations for a week or 10 days before polling day to allow for those who are away, rather than giving them postal votes. What I do not accept is that voting should be made much easier for those who are fundamentally lazy. There is a philosophical difference here. I believe that what the Minister said about going to the polling station as a symbolic act of civic engagement, to use the modern jargon, is important. However, that is far less important than the fact that at the moment the polling station is the only place in which the secrecy of the vote can be guaranteed. As the noble Lord, Lord Norton, said, that is the crucial point. I make no bones about it. I am against the present system of postal voting on demand. We ought to go back to a system in which postal voting is provided for people who cannot reasonably get to a polling station. What I do not accept is people being given a postal vote because they are busy, because they are lazy, or because they want to sit at home watching football on television.