Representation of the People Bill

Lord Rennard Excerpts

2nd reading
Monday 14th September 2026 Lords Chamber

[Lord Rennard (LD)]

My Lords, the current controversy over massive donations from crypto billionaires to the limited company known as Reform is a disaster that has been waiting to happen and a danger to democracy. In 2000 the then Labour Government sought to end the party-spending arms race that had been giving an unfair financial advantage to the Conservative Party. They introduced a spending cap of £20 million for political parties in the 12 months before a general election, but there was no cap on the size of donations and no cap on spending for all the years in between general elections. The cap of £20 million was higher than it needed to be and it was a mistake to allow the Secretary of State to increase it without any form of parliamentary approval.

The Conservatives increased this limit from £20 million to £36 million without consultation just before the last general election. This allowed them to receive £20 million in donations from a single source—Frank Hester. During the passage of the legislation in 2000, I moved amendments providing for a maximum cap of £50,000 on the size of donations from any source to political parties. That would be around £110,000 in today’s money. I also warned then that the legislation would backfire, just as it has done, by introducing the concept of national spending which could be targeted at individual constituencies. This destroyed the concept of a level playing field in constituency campaigning that had applied since Gladstone’s Government introduced the Corrupt and Illegal Practices Prevention Act 1883. We have gone back 150 years. This Bill must be amended to put that right.

It is difficult to make rules apply retrospectively even if actions are taken to subvert the purpose of the legislation, but we can look at the total limits of what can be spent by parties and prevent the targeting of national spending at specific seats. This weekend’s £72 million of donations to Reform could legally be spent in 72 target constituencies over two years, providing for £1 million of national spending in each of them. MPs should take careful note of that; I am not sure that they are aware. In relation to donation caps, they are supporting the proposal for a cap of £100,000 on donations from overseas electors, but the logic of such a cap is that it should also be applied to UK-based electors.

I support allowing young people to vote at the first election after their 16th birthday. That is not surprising, because by the time I was 16 I was the secretary of the Liverpool Wavertree Constituency Liberal Association. I have never suggested that the first thing a 16 year-old will wish to do after opening their birthday cards is to rush down to a polling station and cast a vote, but I know from many political discussions with young people that many sixth-formers are well informed, very interested and as qualified to have a say in the future of their country as many older people. However, we need to do much more to register young people. Processes of automatic voter registration can cut costs and are clearly necessary to include more of the 6 million to 8 million people missing or incorrectly registered.

The Bill brings forward by three days the deadline to apply for a postal vote. Many people do not apply for one until they know the date of the election, so the timetable for the conduct of a general election must also be extended by three days. We also need to do more to assist overseas voters. At present, the time it takes if they vote by post effectively disenfranchises most of them, including members of our Armed Forces serving overseas. We cannot say that their rights as UK citizens are respected when we do not will the means for them to vote.

Voter Registration, Election Turnout and Compulsory Voting

Lord Rennard Excerpts

Thursday 3rd September 2026 Lords Chamber

Asked by

[Lord Rennard]

To ask His Majesty’s Government what assessment they have made of (1) the means whereby Australia has achieved far greater voter registration and general election turnout levels than the UK, and (2) compulsory voting and automatic voter registration schemes in the UK.

[The Parliamentary Under-Secretary of State, Ministry of Housing, Communities and Local Government (Baroness Taylor of Stevenage) (Lab)]

My Lords, we have examined the electoral system in Australia, where they have introduced more automated forms of voter registration. Their experience highlights just how much time, iteration and rigorous testing are required to build processes and data sources of sufficient quality. Over the coming years, we are working to create a new automated voter registration system, thereby removing a key barrier to eligible citizens participating in our democracy. It is likely that Australia’s long-established policy of compulsory voting, automated forms of registration and public engagement in democratic participation may have contributed to the higher levels of turnout at its elections. Different democracies make different choices about how they encourage electoral participation.

[Lord Rennard (LD)]

My Lords, the turnout level in Australia’s most recent general election was 91%, compared to only 60% in the UK, and Australia has achieved voter registration levels of 98%, compared to just 86% in the UK. The Government’s impact assessment suggests that the moves towards automatic voter registration will increase voter registration rates by less than 0.8% in two years—perhaps in time for the next election. Do the Government accept that low turnouts and there being perhaps 8 million people missing from our electoral registers severely weaken the health of our democracy? What more will they do to address these issues?

[Baroness Taylor of Stevenage (Lab)]

I stress to the noble Lord that I said it has taken a long time for Australia to get where it has. It started off with compulsory voting in 1924. The 1922 election saw a less than 60% turnout. That has risen, as he said, to 91% in the 2025 election, but that is a result of a number of steps it has taken, including the registration steps that we are looking at now. It is an iterative process and we need to move ahead with it carefully. We make different choices in different countries about the way we move this forward. At the moment, the Government believe that we have to focus on taking down barriers to participation. That is why we are taking steps in the Representation of the People Bill, which we will be debating shortly, to make voting easier and more accessible before we go forward with any further steps.

Donations to Political Parties

Lord Rennard Excerpts

Monday 1st June 2026 Lords Chamber

[Baroness Taylor of Stevenage (Lab)]

That is exactly what the Representation of the People Bill will attempt to do; it will make sure that we are clear about how donations to political parties should work. We will debate this in due course and, I am sure, at great length in this House. It is important that the public can have confidence in how this system is working.

[Lord Rennard (LD)]

My Lords, immediately prior to the last general election, the then government party decided to increase the maximum expenditure by political parties standing in every seat in Great Britain by 80%, increasing the amount of money that could be spent from around £20 million to £36 million. It did not do it any good. Should we not now reverse that increase, which invites massive donations from sources that political parties find hard to check the origins of?

[Baroness Taylor of Stevenage (Lab)]

We are introducing tougher rules on political donations to protect UK elections. The limits have changed because circumstances change. That is an important part of the system. We have to strike the right balance between safeguarding against foreign interference and making sure that legitimate donors can continue to fund election campaigns.

Local Elections: Cancellation

Lord Rennard Excerpts

Wednesday 21st January 2026 Lords Chamber

[Baroness Taylor of Stevenage (Lab)]

As I said, it was up to councils to determine how they responded. The vast majority of places that were due to have elections will have them. Where councils have responded that they feel that it will cause them some difficulty as part of the reorganisation process, the Secretary of State will give due consideration to that.

[Lord Rennard (LD)]

My Lords, there has been all-party consensus on the postponement of elections in the past—for example, in World War II, for foot and mouth disease, and for Covid—but there was no such all-party agreement in this case, and no such extenuating circumstances can be justified. But, if there were, would it not be right for Parliament to have a say on whether elections can be postponed?

[Baroness Taylor of Stevenage (Lab)]

There is clear precedent for postponing local elections where local government reorganisations are in progress. It can prevent costly and distracting elections for short-term posts that may soon be abolished. For example, between 2019 and 2022, the previous Government postponed elections in Buckinghamshire, Cumbria, North Yorkshire, Northamptonshire, Somerset, and Weymouth and Portland. This responsibility has been delegated by Parliament to the Secretary of State.

Election Law

Lord Rennard Excerpts

Tuesday 18th November 2025 Lords Chamber

[Baroness Taylor of Stevenage (Lab)]

I think I have made the Government’s position on the 2026 elections very clear from the Dispatch Box. It is our intention that all elections during 2026 will go ahead.

[Lord Rennard (LD)]

My Lords, the Representation of the People Acts sought to create a level playing field for constituency campaigning, but they no longer do so as a result of the legislation of 2000, which brought in national party limits. These limits were suddenly increased by 80% just before the last general election. Will the forthcoming legislation address the problem that a party contesting every constituency could spend £35 million in 70 target seats—half a million pounds per constituency—thereby driving a coach of horses through the principles of the Representation of the People Acts?

[Baroness Taylor of Stevenage (Lab)]

I am sure that the noble Lord’s party, along with all other political parties, will be invited to comment on the elections Bill when it is in draft, and I am sure they will do so.

Absent Voting (Elections in Scotland and Wales) Bill

Lord Rennard Excerpts

3rd reading
Friday 24th October 2025 Lords Chamber

[The Parliamentary Under-Secretary of State, Ministry of Housing, Communities and Local Government (Baroness Taylor of Stevenage) (Lab)]

My Lords, I thank the noble Lord for his comments. I thank all noble Lords for their contributions to and support for the Bill, and particularly my noble friend Lord Murphy of Torfaen for his stewardship of the Bill through this House.

Our democracy remains at the heart of our Government’s purpose and mission. On the point made by the noble Lord, Lord Jamieson, the Government will bring forward a number of changes in the forthcoming elections Bill, which will come before this House in due course; we will have the opportunity to discuss these matters further at that point.

I thank my noble friend Lord Murphy for his excellent contribution to our democratic process.

[Lord Rennard (LD)]

Before the Minister sits down, I note that I agree with some of the comments of the noble Lord, Lord Jamieson, if not all of them. He makes some good points about the different gaps in and problems within our election laws. In our Second Reading and Committee debates, many of us across the House spoke about the need to consolidate properly all election laws.

We recognise that the noble Lord, Lord Murphy, has done extremely well in bringing this Bill forward— I shall call it a small, tidying-up measure. It is still a very important principle that people in Scotland and Wales can apply online to vote as absent voters; that should probably have been done in 2022, without needing a Private Member’s Bill. We frequently have debates in which the expertise in this House highlights the need, as the law commissions keep emphasising, for proper consolidation of election laws, bringing together the legislation of 2000 and the old legislation of the Representation of the People Act. Can the Minister say a bit more about the Government’s intention regarding consolidating election law in general?

[Baroness Taylor of Stevenage (Lab)]

I thank the noble Lord, Lord Rennard; he is right to flag up that more work is to be done on elections. That is why, in response to the noble Lord, Lord Jamieson, I referred to the forthcoming elections Bill. I am sure that noble Lords in this House, where there is indeed a great deal of expertise in election matters, will want to contribute to that Bill as it comes forward.

I hope we will be able to incorporate many of the matters we have discussed over the years that have been missed out of the elections process or need further tightening because of current circumstances— I believe that the noble Lord, Lord Jamieson, was referring to that too. We have seen a significant change in the way things operate, so we need to make sure that election law keeps up with that. That is our aim as we bring forward the elections Bill, and I look forward to the contributions of all Members of the House when we do so.

Absent Voting (Elections in Scotland and Wales) Bill

Lord Rennard Excerpts

2nd reading
Friday 5th September 2025 Lords Chamber

[Lord Rennard (LD)]

My Lords, the expertise of many Members of your Lordships’ House in electoral law matters has once again been demonstrated in this debate. From these Benches, we supported the provisions in the Elections Act 2022 to make it easy for people wishing to vote by post or proxy to apply to do so online. Similarly, we now support this Bill to allow the Scottish and Welsh Parliaments to extend the provision of online applications for absent voting to all elections in those countries.

Modernising the conduct of elections encourages participation. It can also cut costs, with the money saved invested elsewhere in our democratic processes. Fundamentally, we need as few barriers as possible to voting, subject of course to measures to maintain the security of the ballot process. I remain concerned that there are more problems with absent voting, and the abuse of the processes involved in it, than with voting at polling stations.

I supported the measures in the 2022 Act to try to deal with postal vote fraud, but the new rules introduced then to prevent parties or candidates harvesting postal votes still seem ineffective and unenforceable. If we make voting by post easier, we must try to do more to make sure that postal votes are completed in proper conditions of secrecy. Can the Minister tell us whether there may be further provision in forthcoming legislation about the security of postal voting in particular?

I have a more fundamental question about our overall approach to electoral legislation. This very sensible measure has come to us by way of a Private Member’s Bill. As the noble Lords, Lord Hayward and Lord Bourne, and other noble Lords have suggested, this highlights the need to reform election legislation not in a piecemeal and unsatisfactory way but fundamentally, so that when changes are made—such as those in the 2022 Act—they are not so open to charges of partisan interference in election rules.

For some years, many of us have been hoping for a Government who will accept the Law Commission’s proposal to consolidate all our electoral legislation. The noble Lord, Lord Mott, quoted the Law Commission, and I refer to what it said in 2020:

“Electoral law in the UK is spread across 17 statutes and some 30 sets of regulations. It has become increasingly complex and fragmented; it is difficult to access, apply, and update. Much of the law is rooted in 19th Century language and practice, and doesn’t reflect modern electoral administration”.


Can the Minister please say whether the Government agree with that? Will he stand by his words, his vote and those of all his Labour colleagues in the last Parliament to end the provision for a Secretary of State to direct a strategy and policy statement for the Electoral Commission, thereby undermining its independence?

This Bill is a small step in improving our electoral arrangements. Many things need to be put in place to improve them. As the noble Baroness, Lady Smith of Llanfaes, said, we need above all to ensure that our systems are modernised so that everybody legally entitled to vote is enabled to do so by being on the electoral register.

Voting at 16

Lord Rennard Excerpts

Thursday 24th July 2025 Lords Chamber

Asked by

[Lord Rennard]

To ask His Majesty’s Government when they expect to lower the voting age to 16, and whether they will take steps to raise the proportion of young people registered to vote to the same level as for those aged over 25.

[The Parliamentary Under-Secretary of State, Ministry of Housing, Communities and Local Government (Lord Khan of Burnley) (Lab)]

My Lords, the Government will introduce legislation as soon as time allows during this Parliament to give 16 and 17 year-olds the right to vote in all elections. We recognise that too many young people are not currently registered to vote. We are committed to improving voter registration and supporting young people to register. We believe that, by building a strong foundation for democratic participation among young people, we can establish habits that will continue as they grow older.

[Lord Rennard (LD)]

My Lords, the proposed change is welcome, and unless we change the voting age soon, young people may continue having to wait until they are 20 or 21 to cast their first vote in a general election. But would it not make sense to have the same age for voting in all elections across the UK, starting in 2027? In any event, will the Government now implement the unanimous cross-party recommendation of the House of Lords Select Committee and automatically include 16 and 17 year-olds on the electoral registers at the same time as they are given their national insurance numbers? That would put them in readiness to be able to vote whatever the age was.

[Lord Khan of Burnley (Lab)]

My Lords, let me first say that the Government were elected on a clear mandate, which included lowering the voting age to 16 for all elections in the UK. This is a major change in the electoral franchise and we need to get it right. Changes of this magnitude to the electoral law require careful planning and should not be rushed. On the question about national insurance, we are looking at different options to ensure that young people can be easily and accurately registered to vote, including enabling people to register when they interact with other government services. The noble Lord keeps pushing, and I give him the good news that we are looking at that.

Housebuilders: Information Sharing

Lord Rennard Excerpts

Tuesday 15th July 2025 Lords Chamber

[Baroness Taylor of Stevenage (Lab)]

I have much sympathy with what the noble Lord says. He has great expertise in this area, and I recognise that. Our focus is on creating a more balanced and competitive market overall by addressing the systemic barriers that prevent SMEs and others delivering more homes. We are taking action to support SMEs across the three main challenges that we know they face: access to finance, access to land, and an uncertain and complex planning system. We have announced two immediate packages of measures to support buildout and SMEs via £100 million in SME accelerator loans and measures to support faster decisions on smaller sites, which I hope will help.

[Lord Rennard (LD)]

My Lords, the one-off payment of £100 million towards affordable housing is only about 3% of the operating profit of the five biggest housebuilders this year. Is this a relatively small penalty for them to pay for anti-competitive practices over many years?

[Baroness Taylor of Stevenage (Lab)]

As I already commented, this is the biggest settlement ever achieved by the CMA. Of course, we can always do with more money for housing. We have to consider what is appropriate in these circumstances. I am sure the CMA has done that. This will undoubtedly make a significant contribution to delivering the affordable housing we all want to see. I am sure that the CMA will continue to watch the market very carefully to see that the changes that are introduced as a result of its report make the difference that we know we need.

Elections: Political Party Spending

Lord Rennard Excerpts

Monday 9th June 2025 Lords Chamber

Asked by

[Lord Rennard]

To ask His Majesty’s Government whether they have plans to regulate spending by political parties on elections further, including by applying a national expenditure limit every year, not just in the year before a general election, or by lowering the national expenditure limit.

[The Parliamentary Under-Secretary of State, Ministry of Housing, Communities and Local Government (Baroness Taylor of Stevenage) (Lab)]

My Lords, robust party spending and reporting rules are already in place. The Government do not have current plans to review the spending limits, but we are committed to maintaining the level playing field and the integrity of elections. In line with our manifesto commitment, our focus is on safeguarding our democracy by strengthening the regulations on political party donations. We plan to set out further details on that in our strategy for elections, which we expect to publish this summer.

[Lord Rennard (LD)]

My Lords, last week Elon Musk claimed that, without his $300 million donation, Trump would have lost the election. Does the Minister accept that democracy in this country should not be for sale and that millions of votes should count for more than millions of pounds? Given their commitment to a level playing field, will the Government act to bring in a cap on the size of donations that can be made to parties? Will they reverse the 80% increase in national spending limits brought in by the previous Conservative Government and opposed by Labour when in opposition? Will they introduce spending limits that apply every year, not just in the year before an election?

[Baroness Taylor of Stevenage (Lab)]

My Lords, many things are said on social media, including by Elon Musk, and I am aware that he is a prolific user of his own platform. There has been much discussion of his words and their impact; I do not want to dignify them with any further reaction in this Chamber. On the capping of donations, those who participate in electoral campaigns must also follow the donation and spending rules set out in law. It is the responsibility of those receiving political donations to take steps to ensure they are permissible, and we will take any necessary steps to ensure those requirements are tightened and abided by. There is no current priority on capping donations, but we are very keen on strengthening the rules around how donations work.