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Representation of the People (Northern Ireland) Regulations 2008

My Lords, I join other noble Lords in congratulating the noble Lord, Lord Tunnicliffe, not only on the way in which he presented the two instruments but on the fact that he has joined the Front-Bench team dealing with Northern Ireland; that will be of great benefit to us all. I offer him any advice, at any stage, that he may wish to seek. The group to which I belong also supports the two instruments but with the concern expressed by the noble Lords, Lord Glentoran and Lord Smith, about the age of photographs. It is not difficult to find examples of this problem. The Parliamentary Companion contains photographs of noble Lords, but someone looking at them would be forgiven for thinking that some photographs were of either their sons or grandsons; they do not have a tremendous relationship to the person whom you meet on a daily basis on these Benches. I accept that there will be out-of-date passes, but there must be a sensible cut-off date of 10 years or whatever. We cannot go on ad infinitum. I accept the point made by the noble Lord, Lord Smith, that we now have one of the best regulated electoral systems in Europe. That is important. We in Northern Ireland are glad to get away from the days when you had the old jibe, ““Vote early and vote often””. As people used to say to me, election day in Northern Ireland was like the day of resurrection, because everyone got out of the graveyards and went to vote. I am glad that those days have gone and that we have a sensible voting system. We feel strongly that it should be applied right across the board. That is what is happening and I commend the electoral officers in Northern Ireland. We support the instruments.