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Proceeding contribution from Nicholas Winterton (Conservative) in the House of Commons on Monday, 26 February 2007. It occurred during Opposition day on Electoral System.


Electoral System

I am trying to be balanced and responsible. I am concerned about the House and ensuring that those elected to it from all the political parties are elected by votes that can be trusted. People must believe that there is a true result to an election and that councillors in Birmingham, the north-west and London have not been elected by votes that are the result of fraud. The Government must admit that a number of cases have brought the whole electoral process, particularly that for postal votes, into disrepute. We must ensure that we have a system that is trusted. My hon. Friend the Member for Shrewsbury and Atcham (Daniel Kawczynski) talked about those who had applied for a postal vote and had not received it. Clearly at the last election, there were many problems with those responsible for the postal vote system. In my constituency of Macclesfield, we had severe problems and a number of people had to have votes delivered to them by the borough council. [Interruption.] I must tell my hon. Friend the Member for Shrewsbury and Atcham that I am well aware of the time that the contributions from Back Benchers are supposed to end in order to allow time for the Government to respond. I do not need to be reminded.


Secondary information

Type
Proceeding contribution
Reference
457 c719 
Session
2006-07
Chamber / Committee
House of Commons chamber
Subjects
Committee on Standards in Public Life Fraud Electoral Commission Electoral register Electoral systems Voting methods
Link
View this Proceeding contribution on www.publications.parliament.uk