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Political Parties and Elections Bill

The noble Lord will know that I agree entirely with his description of what goes on in many places. I have described it here and may do again this afternoon. But does he not understand that there is a danger if it is the local authority he is talking about rather than the local returning officer and their staff? A difficulty in some of these areas is that returning officers and election staff may not be sufficiently independent from the political control of the local authority. It is really the returning officers who need to sort these things out. Local authorities, because they are involved in the politics of it, may find it more difficult to do so.