The Government’s ‘Electoral Commission Strategy and Policy Statement’ was debated on 31 January.

I share concerns that this is an attempt by the Government to put pressure on the independent Electoral Commission.  This view is held by the Electoral Commission itself, which said: “The introduction of a mechanism such as a strategy and policy statement – by which a government can guide an electoral commission’s work – is inconsistent with this independent role.”

It is vital that the Electoral Commission is free from the influence of the government of the day and can oversee our democratic process impartially.  My Opposition Colleagues and I believe that the Government’s Strategy and Policy Statement violates this important principle.

During the debate on 31 January, my Opposition Colleagues, including our Shadow Minister for Democracy, Florence Eshalomi, spoke out against this statement.  However, sadly, the Government was able to vote it through.

I am concerned that this is just the latest example of the Government attempting to stack the electoral deck in its favour.  So far, the Government has:

• Required voters to bring identification to vote despite evidence showing that this would deny some eligible people the vote; most notably, demographics that don’t tend to vote for them.
• Moved from household registration to individual electoral registration, which saw millions of people fall off the electoral roll.  It then redrew the electoral boundaries at this moment to maximise the partisan benefit.
• Lifted the ban on Britons voting who have lived abroad for over 15 years, whilst denying 16- and 17-year-olds the vote, again favouring one demographic over another.
• Changed the electoral system for Police and Crime Commissioners elections and Mayoral elections to its advantage and to the detriment of smaller parties.
• Raised the national election spending cap for parties by 80% and increasing the amount of money that an individual can donate to a party without declaring who they are from £7,500 to £11,180; flooding our politics with even more corrupting money.

The Government has repeatedly placed its thumb on the scale to skew the democratic process in its favour.  I have consistently opposed these efforts and will continue to do so.