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Political Parties and Elections Bill

The Minister seems not to have taken account of the arguments that might actually dissuade people from putting their name on the electoral register—the democratic argument—that it is an abuse of people’s privacy, when people have given information for an electoral purpose. The only argument that the Government now have for keeping the electoral register is a commercial one. Would the Minister answer that specific point and, secondly, comment on the fact that many organisations assemble data for marketing purposes and the likelihood is that, if local authorities do not produce an edited register, new markets will open up for businesses to compile registers of people who wish to receive material in a legitimate and commercial way?