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Northern Ireland (Miscellaneous Provisions) Bill

My Lords, I support the amendments of the noble Lord, Lord Clifton. As the noble Lord has already said, we had a long debate in Committee and we also believe that 10 years is far too long. I also agree with the Government that one year is far too short because it is expensive and impractical. If I remember right, we felt at the Committee stage that some form of compromise between one year and 10 years would be the right way to go. The amendments seem to cover the right number of election periods and would allow the electoral officer time to get his or her feet under the table and to get a grip of the electorate and the register. Because of the considerable movement of the electorate in Northern Ireland—with students growing up and going abroad, people coming in, families moving and so on, it is a very mobile electorate—we feel that 10 years is much too long and five years is probably an appropriate compromise.