Speeches by Ali.

“You are right, and local government has suffered from funding challenges. This Government have already increased the funding available to local authorities and we will also look closely at what else is needed. We are very conscious, of course, of the pressures and challenges that local councils have faced. In the wider…”

“We have made a commitment in our manifesto to make sure that foreign money has no place in UK politics. It is vital to protect our democracy from actors who seek to interfere in our elections. You give that example, and there are threats and there are risks of interference in our democracy. There is quite a lot of work…”

“We have committed in our manifesto to taking action on this. You are right that at the moment the rules are not tight enough. It is up to individual parties to do the due diligence, and some parties do that better than others. The “know your donor” approach is important. Some parties are doing that voluntarily. I know …”

“You are right, and it is unacceptable that 16,000 people were affected in this way. The Electoral Commission has already, as you know, considered a number of recommendations in its report, including the point that was made about statutory deadlines. We are keen to look at what else can be done to reduce the risk of vot…”

“That great hurdle; that is right. We are focusing on that.”

“We can maybe come back to you, but the important thing is that, to your point about stress testing, resilience and emerging challenges, there is a whole series of issues that we need to take into account—registration and much else. This is an opportunity to get those ideas and inputs now. Perhaps we can come back to yo…”

“What I am saying is that there will be certain proposals that will require longer. That will have to be taken into account. However, we are focused on ensuring that we have, we hope, a Bill coming—an elections Bill—subject to the Leader of the House providing further updates.”

“Chair, you raise a very important point about the scale of challenge faced by electoral administrators in delivering the general election, but also other elections. We are conscious of the pressures on them. There are also recruitment challenges that vary across the country, and we want to and will work with the sector…”

“I think we have made our position clear. The focus is about addressing the immediate issues as well as medium-term issues. The strategic review may well come back with further proposals that will take longer but, as Stuart has said, that is a much longer-term piece of work. It is important that we take action now and a…”

“I will turn to Stuart; it is his favourite topic.”

“At the moment we are looking forward to receiving suggestions and proposals. Some of them are coming in already, or have come in already, which we are considering along the way. As Stuart has pointed out, we look forward to updating you once that strategy statement is published.”

“You are right, and it is not just now. There has been an ongoing issue around trust in politics, which is work that we all have to do to ensure that we can build trust. In our manifesto we set out that we will take action in relation to political finance, for instance, which is another area where some of the things tha…”

“We are looking into it. I do not know if you want to come in on the specifics.”

“Absolutely.”

“The Liberal Democrats had the opportunity to change the system, and they didn’t.”

“There are a whole range of issues, as I say, from how politics is conducted to the harassment and intimidation that, as I mentioned, can knock people’s confidence and put people off. I have seen that. Others have seen that. We all have to be mindful of our own conduct in public life and this Government are determined t…”

“As I mentioned earlier, the role that Government Departments play together, particularly the Department for Education and DCMS, is crucial. Youth Parliaments are important—Mr Speaker hosted the annual event here—as is the engagement of representatives in encouraging young people. More importantly, we are very intereste…”

“As you will know, there was the AV referendum in the 2010 to 2015 period, during the coalition Government. That referendum was not won by those who supported changing the voting system. Our focus is around making sure that we do everything we can to engage and support those who have not registered, but also certain gro…”

“Look, this Government have inherited a huge set of challenges: the economic challenges, the cost of living crisis, the post-pandemic after-effects in health and a whole range of social challenges. We are focused on tackling the issues that are affecting people’s lives. As you will know—”

“This is about the democratic system that we have operated in, which is first past the post. I respect our democratic system within which we are all elected, and we have a mandate. I could say the same about you.”