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Fixed-term Parliaments Bill

My Lords, few football matches last for nine hours on a Saturday and nine hours on a Sunday. I think that there would be plenty of opportunity to vote over a weekend. Some people may be in the privileged position of being able to take time off work on polling day but I do not think that many employers would take kindly to people saying, ““I’d rather go and vote than work for you””. I think that that is why so few people among the working-age population vote and why a disproportionate number of retired people vote in elections compared with those of a working age.