Gordon Prentice - Pendle's Campaigning Labour MP
| MP Says Move to Individual Voter Registration is Now “Urgent and Essential” |
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Tags: Press Release | voter registration
| Written by Gordon Prentice |
| Tuesday, 15 April 2008 00:00 |
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Pendle MP, Gordon Prentice, is calling on the Government to take urgent steps to ensure the integrity of elections. He says the law must be changed to force every voter to register on the electoral roll. At the moment the names of eligible voters at any given address are submitted to the local authority every year by the so called “head of household”. The MP said: “The responsibility for getting on the electoral register should lie with every individual over 18, not with a so-called “head of household”. This is a complete throwback to Victorian times and it is now urgent and essential it is scrapped.” The MP was speaking in Nelson following the revelation that the Liberal Democrat candidate for Parliament at the next election, Afzal Anwar, shares a house in Manchester Road, Nelson with 26 other adults. The MP added: “The Lib Dem election agent, Lord Greaves, has said the property is home to the candidate, his father, three brothers and their families and contains 24 bedrooms. In these circumstances, I am not entirely sure who would be the head of household.” “Electoral practice has traditionally been based on trust; on an understanding that people would not try to cheat and steal elections. Trust is no longer enough. We need strict rules that are observed, and tough penalties if they are not.” The MP has regularly called in Parliament for the tightening up of election law, most recently last month following the conviction of Eshaq Khan, a Conservative councillor in Slough. |
| Last Updated ( Wednesday, 08 October 2008 11:21 ) |