Representation of the People Bill

Lord Shamash Excerpts

2nd reading
Monday 14th September 2026 Lords Chamber

[Lord Shamash (Lab)]

My Lords, first of all I congratulate my noble friend Lord Macintosh on his maiden speech. I also wish the right reverend Prelate the Bishop of Lichfield very well in his retirement; I hope he has planned it properly so he will have a lot of fun.

The message I want to convey is the issue about underregistration, which people have discussed during the course of this debate. Before I do that, I decided I would get a printed copy of the Representation of the People Act—something I have lived with for many years—and it is that thick. There are 536 pages in this bit of legislation—536.

I remember in 2001, when I was a young lawyer, going to a meeting about the creation of the Electoral Commission. That was 25 years ago. One of the issues we discussed was consolidation, which is a matter I have raised with my noble friend the Minister. It is desperately called for. It is a nonsense that we have been through this—25 years and we are still waiting for consolidation. I do not think I will live to see it, the way we are going. It is quite extraordinary. What a way of carrying on, frankly.

We have had the figure of 8 million people not on the register. Just think of it this way: that is every single person in London. That is the population of London. That is 8 million people who are not on the register who should be.

I wish to address underregistration, covered by Clauses 17 to 24 and Schedule 2, which set out the mechanisms for automatic voter registration—AVR—without an application. Clause 20 goes on to set out the provisions for a pilot scheme. I urge the Minister to take speedy action to implement the pilot in as short a time as possible, so that the scheme will be ready for the next general election, not the one after.

The measures seek to introduce more automated forms of voter registration and could help enfranchise the millions of private renters, and other underrepresented groups, who face barriers to both registering to vote and remaining registered when they move home, for example. Datasets could lead to more than nine in 10 private renters being registered to vote. Of the 9.41 million private renters over 16 in England and Wales at the 2021 census, 8.5 million lived in households likely to interact with the council for council tax, HMRC for self-assessment tax returns, DVLA for driving licences, and DWP for universal credit, state pensions or other means-tested benefits. Automatic registration would update electoral records when people update their address with trusted public services such as local authorities for council tax, et cetera.

Research has found that AVR could increase private renter registration from 65% to 90%—a dramatic increase—by removing these key barriers to registration. However, the Bill currently contains no clear legal duty or timeline for the nationwide rollout of automatic voter registration. Without this, there is a risk that this reform will be fully effective only for a general election in the 2030s, rather than the next one. The Government should commit to laying regulations by a specific date and to ensuring adequate resourcing and equality impact monitoring.

My view is that to deal with this now is very urgent if we are serious about getting our electoral law into some sort of proper shape. Therefore, will my noble friend the Minister give a clear indication that the AVR system, via the pilot, will be implemented quickly, as set out in the Bill?

Foreign Interference in UK Politics

Lord Shamash Excerpts

Thursday 9th July 2026 Lords Chamber

[Lord Lemos (Lab)]

The noble Lord raises a very important point in relation to information sharing. To address the asymmetry identified in the Rycroft review of the information-sharing provisions in the Bill, we will amend the Bill to establish a broad reciprocal statutory gateway for information sharing. Importantly, we will also extend the commission’s power to require disclosure of information outside of a formal investigation, enabling a more proportionate and effective approach to enforcement.

On criminal liabilities, one of the things that we want to achieve in the Bill is for these matters to be dealt with, as far as possible, by the Electoral Commission, as there are other pressures in relation to police time, and so on. We are decriminalising some minor offences in the Bill, as I think the noble Lord knows, but we do not want to reduce the liability in relation to serious matters.

[Lord Shamash (Lab)]

My Lords, I have just returned from the Organization for Security and Co-operation in Europe Parliamentary Assembly, where I spent the last five days on behalf of the House. One of the issues that came up was that what is happening here is not unique to us. A number of countries across Europe—not least Armenia, Hungary recently, and Moldova—are suffering the same issue of money coming in, possibly from Moscow and elsewhere. A considerable amount of time and effort is being spent by people on thinking of ways to tighten up the rules and make things more effective.

Enforcement has been touched upon. I may have mentioned this last week when it came up, but things have changed since then. Suppose that Count Binface was the recipient of several hundred thousand pounds from some foreign donation and was to win that by-election in Clacton. Many might like to see him win, but that is another matter for another time and another place. What would be the ability to enforce against him? He would be the successful Member of Parliament. Does the Representation of the People Bill, as drafted, have the teeth to remove that Member of Parliament? The Recall of MPs Act 2015 does not properly cover this. Can the Minister give some advice or think carefully about how we are going to deal with this problem? Maybe he could write to me or meet me for a discussion.

[Lord Lemos (Lab)]

I already have a date to meet the noble Lord, Lord Shamash, so we can certainly pick this up then. These potential breaches and allegations are matters for the Electoral Commission. It is our job to empower it to deal with them. I am sure that we will debate the issues he raises at some length in Committee when the Bill comes before the House.

UK Domestic Visitor Levy

Lord Shamash Excerpts

Monday 16th March 2026 Lords Chamber

[Lord Shamash (Lab)]

My Lords, I ask a question by way of clarification. Will I have to pay this levy when I go up to watch my beloved Manchester United every week?

[Baroness Taylor of Stevenage (Lab)]

I suggest that the noble Lord, Lord Shamash, may want to think about a team closer to home—there are some very good ones near to where he lives. However, football allegiance apart, it depends on the accommodation that people are staying in. This applies only to commercially let short-term accommodation—only that will be in scope of the visitor levy. This includes holiday lets, hotels and guest houses, subject to local decisions on the scheme. The noble Lord always has the option to support a team closer to home.

Election Law

Lord Shamash Excerpts

Tuesday 18th November 2025 Lords Chamber

[Baroness Taylor of Stevenage (Lab)]

This is a really important point around the expanding of the franchise. As the grandmother of a grandson who will be 16 in February, I am very aware that we need to make sure that education and engagement are a vital part of implementing policy. We take empowering and equipping young people with the knowledge and skills that they will need very seriously. The independent Curriculum and Assessment Review’s report and the Government’s response have now been published. We really welcome the review’s recommendations in this respect and the Government are already taking steps to progress the review’s agenda.

[Lord Shamash (Lab)]

My Lords, I remember attending the Law Commission, some 10 years ago if not more, when it promised to bring forward a new electoral registration Act, together with a review of the whole of election law. I declare my interest as the solicitor of the Labour Party in relation to election law.

The case for consolidating and indeed modernising election law is very strong, because the current system is fragmented, outdated, confusing and increasingly unworkable. Consolidation and modernisation itself would bring a single coherent legislative framework; modernising the rules would make election law fit for digital campaigning, which is the world we live in now, whereas election law currently is very much paper-based; consistency across elections would mean that we would all know, whichever election we were standing in, that the rules were more or less the same; and it would lower the administrative burden and make clearer offences and enforcement.

What steps will the Minister take to ensure that the Law Commission brings forward a review, certainly within the next couple of years?

[Baroness Taylor of Stevenage (Lab)]

As I said, I understand the frustration about this, but the core scope of the review was to make sure that we pick up the main risks and issues related to electoral registration and the conduct of elections. A complete review of the electoral system would be a very complex and long-standing procedure and we wanted to do this on a risk-based approach, dealing with the challenges faced by the electoral sector rather than undertaking a wholescale consolidation. We have some pragmatic solutions to address the key issues and we are taking those forward.

Unauthorised Entry to Football Matches Bill

Lord Shamash Excerpts

2nd reading
Friday 24th October 2025 Lords Chamber

[Lord Shamash (Lab)]

My Lords, thank you very much for allowing me to speak in the gap. I fully support this Bill and congratulate my noble friend Lord Brennan on it. The comments from the noble Lord, Lord Moynihan, and my noble friend Lord Mann have been fascinating. I have a slight interest to declare, having consulted the clerk, as I am the patron and former chairman of Manchester United Supporters’ Trust. That club’s ground is certainly one that you would not be able to use a ladder to look into.

I am particularly concerned about the mechanics of enforcement. If you have 3,500 people breaking into a ground, how on earth do you even begin to do this? I implore that when this Bill goes into Committee, how to deal with that is considered. Tailgating, which is where you follow in behind somebody, whether you do it above or below—I would probably be below, like the noble Lord, Lord Moynihan—is really quite important, but tailgating is something we see all the time on the Tube. I have seen it at Old Trafford: usually, the person doing it is 10 times my size, so I let him get on with it, but the reality is that it could be caught by CCTV.

What I am concerned about is how we deal with enforcement and who is ultimately going to pay. The Bill focuses on the football clubs themselves; I suspect that while they will not want to, they may find themselves having to bear the burden of this. I look forward to hearing what happens about enforcement. I wish the Bill well and I congratulate my noble friend again.