| Fri 23rd February 2018 |
Overseas Electors Bill
(Commons Chamber)
2nd reading: House of Commons |
3 interactions (111 words) |
Overseas Electors Bill Debate
Full Debate: Read Full DebateMr Dominic Grieve
MP Main Page: Mr Dominic Grieve (Independent - Beaconsfield)Department Debates - View all Mr Dominic Grieve's debates with the Cabinet Office
Legislation Debates - View all Mr Dominic Grieve's contributions to the Overseas Electors Bill 2017-19
(2 years, 4 months ago)
Commons ChamberA lot of detail will be involved in this Bill. That matter will probably be dealt with in Committee —I just hope that it will go through to Committee so that we can deal with that then. The Minister who is responding later will have picked up on that point.
I am most grateful to my hon. Friend for giving way. I wholly support this measure. Does he agree that, actually, many people were very hurt when this Parliament reduced the period from 20 to 15 years, quite gratuitously, giving overseas voters the impression that they were not valued? There is a marked contrast between the way we deal with this matter in this country and how it is dealt with in many other countries, such as France, which embraces its overseas voters, wishes them to maintain the link, sees them as valued, and makes every effort to ensure that they can participate in the national political life of the country.
That is another intervention that I greatly welcome and that accords totally with my thinking. It is damaging, yes. We have moved away from the principle of having any restriction at all, which is sensible. I want to come on to that point, but, first, I will take another intervention.