Speeches by Dixon.

“The issue that the hon. Gentleman raises is quite technical. I will provide him with the details. He is right that some convicted 16 to 17-year-olds, rather than being imprisoned in a young offender institution, are detained in secure children’s homes or secure training centres. Whether an individual is held in a young…”

“The Government have a clear view on this issue: those convicted of a crime and serving a sentence in custody cannot vote. We have no plans to extend the franchise to prisoners. The hon. Members for Hazel Grove and for North Herefordshire mentioned the European Court of Human Rights. The UK’s prisoner rights voting poli…”

“I now move on to clause 2, which extends to 16 and 17-year-olds the existing legal incapacity to vote that applies to convicted prisoners—with the exception of those imprisoned for contempt of court or in default of paying a court-imposed fine. It is right that those convicted of a crime and serving a sentence in custo…”

“I thank Members for such a constructive debate. I come back to the original point that I made: the important question is not what else someone can or cannot do, but whether 16 is the right age to vote. The Government are clear that the answer is yes, it is the right age to be able to exercise a democratic right. It wil…”

“Which is the point.”

“It is a pleasure to serve under your chairship, Dr Allin-Khan. I look forward to discussing the finer details of this important Bill with members of the Committee. Clause 1 extends the right to vote to 16 and 17-year-olds for UK parliamentary elections, Northern Ireland Assembly elections, local elections in England an…”

“Q Mr Marshall, to follow up on the point you made about the canvass, the current situation is that the canvass is scrapped every 10 years in Northern Ireland and you have to begin again, so the new measures are welcome. David Marshall: They are very welcome indeed. Cahir Hughes: To echo what David said, canvass reform …”

“Q As may be obvious, I have met most of our witnesses today previously. Where in the Bill do you think things will improve, and what do you see as measures that will make our elections more effective? Peter Stanyon: The first thing to say is that, as an association, we are pleased that the vast majority of the Bill ech…”

“Q Nice to see you, Emily, and welcome. How do you feel the Bill will improve elections and make them more secure for the future? Emily Yule: There are a number of things that we are really pleased to see within the Bill, particularly the extension of protections around abuse and intimidation to returning officers and t…”

“Q It is very pleasing to meet you both, as the two most important people in Northern Ireland’s elections, I would suggest. Thank you for joining us today. How do you see the Bill making things easier for running elections in Northern Ireland? David Marshall: I manage a relatively small team in Belfast who run elections…”

“I had the privilege of attending the interministerial Government meeting late last year, and we had a presentation from the University of Glasgow about the effect of voting on the 16-year-olds who first voted in the referendum in 2014. Interestingly, the evidence shows that, compared with previous cohorts, they continu…”

“Q It has been a pleasure to work with the devolved Administrations in the interministerial work that I have done. Also, the officials have worked across all the Governments in the UK, which has been very productive. All of you have mentioned alignment, and that is an ambition that the Government have set out in this Bi…”

“Q In the strategy that the Government published last year, we set out that our electoral system is not keeping pace with an ever-changing world. How will the Bill bring us forward and keep us up to date? Dr Garland: Many of the changes feel to me that they have been a long time coming: we heard from the Electoral Commi…”

“Q We work very closely with the Electoral Commission, but you act without fear or favour. It is important for your independence to be respected and for your objectivity as an organisation to be carried forward for the future. In your objective view, how will the proposals in the Bill progress the security of and partic…”

“Q We have talked about automatic voter registration, which obviously operates in other countries around the world. Where have you seen good practice? What examples can you give to the Committee that we should consider? Professor James: You can think of two basic, broad clusters of countries that have automatic voter re…”

“Q Do you have anything to add, Professor Bernal? Professor Bernal: No, I have nothing to add to that.”

“Q I am interested in what you said about the open register. The current proposal is to change it from opt-out to opt-in, but would you just like to scrap the whole thing? Professor Bernal: I would like to scrap it. Going from opt-out to opt-in is great for the new people coming in, particularly with automatic voter reg…”

“Q The Government’s election strategy said that our electoral system is not keeping pace with change. The Bill hopes to move us forward so that we do keep pace with changes in the electoral sphere. How successfully do you think the Bill brings us forward, and keeps us aligned and up to date? Councillor Golds: I am a gre…”

“Q Thank you, Mr Browder. Are you aware of examples where cryptocurrency has already been used for foreign political interference? Alexander Browder: It has been used throughout the west by bad actors to interfere in political elections, particularly by Russia. I want to highlight three notable examples. The first is a …”

“Q Outer Mongolia, perhaps? As an aside to Paul’s point, I do receive correspondence from constituents who live overseas, usually in respect of their pension arrangements. However, to tackle the point about apathy or disengagement, the Bill includes powers to pilot automatic voter registration. Do you think that that wo…”