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Northern Ireland (Miscellaneous Provisions) Bill

I am grateful to the hon. Lady for raising the issue. Again, however, I am bowing to the will of the chief electoral officer, who has raised concerns with the Government about the potential for fraud if numbers of people registered in the late window; for example, he would not have time before polling day to verify personal identifiers on applications for postal votes. In that context, he has expressed concern about the risk of fraud in the absent vote process. The provisions to prevent individuals who register in the late window from applying for an absent vote reflect his advice to the Government.