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Returning Officers (Accountability)

It is a great comfort to know that our words will go out. I congratulate the hon. Member for Inverclyde (David Cairns) on successfully securing this very important debate. In particular, I should like to say that I enjoy the prospect of a new dawn and people dancing in the streets in May. I do not think that the election is in the bag, but I accept the hon. Gentleman's confidence on our behalf. I will be brief, but I think the discussion we are having is about something more: the general degrading of politics, of this place and of government in general. It is about officials saying, "We run this, and it is nothing to do with you politicians." Let me misquote Alexander Pope, "For forms of government let fools protest; Whate'er it administer'd is best". That seems to be the general view of returning officers, although I accept that not many of them are naturally poetic. Nevertheless, they are saying that the matter is not important. A letter from the Electoral Commission stated that the count is accurate, that voters have confidence in the election result, and that it is entirely appropriate to have a count on a Friday if it is deemed necessary to ensure an accurate result. What is frequently cited is the increased number of postal votes, particularly those delivered to polling stations on polling day. As postal votes come in during the election campaign, they are checked, verified and put to one side for counting on the night. Machines are available to check the signatures—I have seen them in operation—and those that they cannot verify can be put to one side.