Speeches by Holmes.

“Q Welcome to all our witnesses—virtual and in person—this afternoon. The Government have always been clear, and have said in the House, that any instance of ineligible people being able to vote is unacceptable. However, does the current system for overseas voting ensure that eligible voters are able to have their votes…”

“Q Thank you. You anticipated my next question to you, Colin, so you have killed two birds with one stone. I will go to Imogen and Richard on the general point about the legislation, but first I will ask whether you agree with the proposal to allow downloadable ballot papers. Would that make the system easier? Imogen Ty…”

“Thank you, and thank you for the work you have been doing.”

“Q Good afternoon and thank you for being here. My question is very brief because of the narrow scope of what you are answering questions on. Do you think that the Bill explicitly needs to take account of donations through cryptocurrency and how do you think that could best be achieved? What do you say to a number of co…”

“Q It could also be argued that if you cannot prove that there has been an increase or decrease in the amount of personation, the system is working, couldn’t it? Dr Garland: I think we would need to know what exactly is happening. We have to be very clear on what we think the problem is in the first place, and of course…”

“I agree. Richard Mawrey: The problem—which I have found in all the cases I have tried, and not simply those to do with family voting, but almost any electoral offence—is that there is no point in having rules or statutes, however good and however well drafted, if nobody is prepared to enforce them. That was particularl…”

“Q It is enforcement rather than legislation. Harry Busz: Yes. For example, the types of polling booths we use here in the UK are a sort of cross-section. The selling points of those polling booths are that they are easy to store and quick to put up, but there is no reference to ballot security, whereas lots of other co…”

“Q Thank you. Quickly and finally, I have tabled new clause 37, which concerns the language of campaign materials. As we have seen in a recent parliamentary by-election, some parties on both the harder left and the harder right have taken to campaigning using leaflets in the short campaign in languages that are not offi…”

“I appreciate that. We will go away to look at how that new clause can be tailored to your feedback, all three of you. The new clause came out of some of the campaigning in the Gorton by-election, so we will go away and look at it again.”

“Q Most of our witnesses in this morning’s session share that viewpoint with you, and I understand your point on not wanting to comment on GB policy, Mr Marshall. Forgive me for asking that question. I also want to ask about your experiences. There is a contention among many parties in the UK House of Commons that photo…”

“Q Professors, thank you very much for coming this afternoon. Professor James, I confess that, in a minute, I will ask you a question that will probably make you ask why I am shadow elections Minister. I found your evidence fascinating reading, particularly about data. Under the section where you have said that citizens…”

“Q I have a brief question in relation to something that was said. We agree that the bank card proposals are flawed, so we have tabled amendment 30. I do not expect you to know what that amendment is, and I am about to tell you: it would ensure that only “bank cards that are issued subject to a search of a consumer’s cr…”

“Further to that point of order, Mr Speaker. Notwithstanding the rulings that you have made from the Chair, which I think are always perfect and completely right, we are now entering a new period in which a Prime Minister answers a question about a subject that was not asked and then focuses on asking a question of the …”

“Q Thank you for that brilliant answer. You rightly brought up the last time this happened, when the age of majority and the age of voting were essentially the same. One thing I have been concerned about for a long time, since the Government first announced the election strategy before Christmas, is that in terms of pub…”

“I find it interesting that most of the people who we consider to be academics, and have made their life’s profession the integrity of the election system, are not in favour of it, but the Government are choosing to go ahead with it anyway. We will look at that further in line-by-line scrutiny. Thank you very much for y…”

“Q What problem are you trying to solve, Minister? It is certainly my contention—you may disagree with this—that most people in this country will have a passport, driving licence or a form of photographic ID, and if you are a student at college, you will have a college ID. One of the witnesses today suggested that you c…”

“Q Thank you for coming this afternoon. Welcome back, Duncan, to these hallowed halls; it has gone downhill since you were last here. I have taken great pleasure in reading all the evidence that has come in today. There are some bits I agree with—particularly from Dr Hawley and Dr Power—but there are some recommendation…”

“I am sure many of us around the table will be looking daily at how to do that if the Bill goes through. Andy Mycock: May I correct the record? I am not an advocate for votes at 16; I am an academic researcher who has been looking at the evidence around the debates for more than 20 years. We have tracked public opinion,…”

“If the Minister decides to make me the MP for overseas voters, I am more than happy to do surgeries across the world.”

“Q Thank you. This will be my final question. In the old system, our polling cards at least had our full names on them. There was a question about that, which is why we Conservatives supported voter ID and photographic ID. There was a reason why we brought in that legislation: theoretically, somebody could take a pollin…”