By Lord Bach - 26th October 2011
Lord Bach argues that government plans to make the duty to register a voluntary one will disenfranchise millions of people.
I am asking my question to the House of Lords because the policy that HMG has set out in its white paper on individual electoral registration makes it clear that registering to vote will become "a matter of choice for an individual" rather than a civic duty backed up by the law of the land.
The consequence of making this duty to register a voluntary one will undoubtedly be many millions of our fellow citizens will not be registered to vote, and thus will not be able to exercise their democratic rights. They will become disenfranchised and disengaged from decisions that will affect their lives.
There are already at least three and a half million people who are not registered to vote. The independent Electoral Commission has already said that the government's proposals may result in 10 million more people falling off the register, with registration rates declining from over 90 per cent to around 65 per cent in some cases.
In a mature democracy, it is surely unacceptable that so many citizens are not registered to vote in elections.
However, it goes further than this. For example, the electoral register is the basis for jury service. How can a jury be a random cross-section of the public if up to 35 per cent of the adult population are not able to be chosen? It is a dangerous nonsense!
Whether the government is planning to do this for their own electoral purposes, I don't know. If they are, it is obviously a major scandal. In any event, such a change would go to the heart of British democracy and diminish our reputation in the eyes of the world. The government must change its mind.
As a final thought, I am proud to be the great-nephew of Emmeline Pankhurst – who led the suffragettes in fighting for Votes for Women 100 years ago. Mrs Pankhurst and all those who walked with her would surely be horrified by the government's at best cavalier approach to democracy and at worst, a malicious attempt to disenfranchise millions, men and women alike.
William Bachis a barrister and is currently the opposition spokesperson for justice in the House of Lords. He was raised to the peerage in 1998 and sits on the Labour benches.
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