Speeches by Smart.

“It is a pleasure to serve under your chairship, Dr Allin-Khan. The Liberal Democrats support the general direction of the Bill and want to help the Government to get it right and, where we feel it falls short, be more ambitious. We remain particularly disappointed that the Bill contains no steps towards electoral refor…”

“The Liberal Democrats believe that voting is a fundamental democratic right, not a privilege to be earned on release. We champion the right to vote, and we are opposed to this disenfranchisement. We also believe that every unnecessary restriction on the franchise weakens democratic legitimacy. Prisoners serving short s…”

“The Liberal Democrats are in favour of automatic voter registration; it is a long-standing commitment of ours. As such, we support clauses 17 to 19, and we oppose amendments 26 and 27. Some Opposition Members said they feel that the current system is doing okay and expressed satisfaction with it. I disagree. It is not …”

“It is a pleasure to serve with you in the chair, Dame Siobhain. The Liberal Democrats support clauses 15 and 16. I will speak to new clause 44, in the name of my hon. Friend the Member for Guildford. Her explanatory statement is clear that it “requires the Government to report on proposals to support the extension of t…”

“I very much welcome the Minister’s comments about how we need a whole-of-society approach to ensuring that young people are equipped to exercise their right to vote. She talked about devolved Administrations, schools and others. There are non-governmental organisations and charities working on that approach: Shout Out …”

“My hon. Friend and constituency neighbour is making a compelling case for the people of Cheadle to get the railway station they deserve. He mentioned Nathaniel Yates, who is a phenomenal campaigner in our region for accessibility at railway stations, and I visited Bredbury station and Romiley station with him. I am sur…”

“Q I have one final comment. If Donald Trump took all the assets of his companies, split them between him and his children and moved all the money into his UK-based company, which runs golf courses, there would be billions, or hundreds of millions, of pounds. Given how the legislation is written currently, I think that …”

“Q I do not want to test the patience of the Chair by getting into the weeds on my favourite voting system, but other voting systems exist in different parts of the United Kingdom, and we heard from witnesses today that they work perfectly well. My next question is, why is revenue the best measure of whether a company i…”

“I am working with the Public Bill Office on an amendment that extends the regulated period. Given the narrow scope of the Bill, that is a way of thinking about that.”

“Q I thank the Minister, who has been battling valiantly throughout the day to participate in our proceedings. It is clear from all the evidence we have heard today that all the witnesses welcome a number of the steps in the Bill, but a number of them expressed disappointment that the scope had been written so narrowly …”

“Q In the interests of full transparency, Transparency International and Spotlight on Corruption are both grantees of the Joseph Rowntree Reform Trust, of which I am a director. You talked about reducing discretion, and there are proposed amendments that would clarify who is no longer a permissible donor. I agree that c…”

“Q Democracy Volunteers has been a grantee of JRRT—there are some witnesses who are not grantees, but not Democracy Volunteers. I am grateful to Councillor Golds for outlining that family voting is not happening in only one community, which is an important point that I hope many people, particularly those who seek to di…”

“Q Mr Mundell, I refer you to my earlier declaration of interest as a director of JRRT, from which some of the witnesses have received funding for their work, including the two professors on this panel. My question is about automatic voter registration and some of the civil liberties and privacy issues that we should co…”

“Q I should declare an interest as a director of the Joseph Rowntree Reform Trust. JRRT is one of the biggest funders of the democracy sector, so a number of the witnesses this afternoon will have received grants from JRRT, including the Politics Project and, I think, Dr Mycock, for a research project. I strongly agree …”

“Q My question is about the calling out process in polling stations, which clause 46 will end. In practice, does calling out still happen in elections, bearing in mind that voter ID has been needed in Northern Irish elections for the last 25 years? Do you see this as being a significant change, or will—as I suspect—ever…”

“Q I am an unpaid honorary vice president of the Local Government Association; as a former councillor, I am delighted that we are hearing from the LGA. I have two strands of questioning; one is around timing. The Bill proposes some changes around postal votes and bringing forward the dates for postal votes. We have seen…”

“Q So the position of the Electoral Reform Society would be that a change to a more proportionate system would better reflect the current situation and would improve trust in politics? Dr Garland: And give more stability and predictability to our electoral outcomes.”

“Q For the record, Dr Garland and I used to be fellow trustees on a charity for a number of years. [Interruption.] No, I do not know every witness, but it is not far off. In page 7 of your written evidence, Dr Garland, you talk about new clause 1, tabled in my name, on the voting system. That is something that affects a…”

“Q There are different voting systems in different parts of the UK, but we all want participation to be as high as possible, and we all want trust in our politics and our electoral system to be as high as possible. Do you have any reflections on the different systems that you operate with for different elections, and on…”

“Q I should declare that I am a member of the Speaker’s Committee on the Electoral Commission. You have already answered one of my questions, which was about profit being a better measure than turnover for companies donating, so I will not ask you about that. The Electoral Commission’s press release in response to the p…”