Postal voting row drags on
MPs have once again overturned a Lords vote on proposed postal ballot trials this summer.
Opposition peers have blocked government attempts three times to extend the voting trial to four regions of the UK for the local council and European Parliament elections in June.
The House of Lords is insistent that the ballot should only be held by post in two regions of the UK – the North East and East Midlands.
However, the government wants the trial extended to the North West and Yorkshire and the Humber, despite Electoral Commission advice to the contrary.
The government is fast running out of time to get the legislation required through Parliament and the row over postal ballots is becoming increasingly bad tempered.
Deputy prime minister John Prescott has branded peers’ defiance “totally unacceptable”.
“It should not be up to unelected people to make decisions; we have greater moral authority to make decisions about planning and we are saying it should be four of those regions,” he argued.
Peers have proposed that the Electoral Commission make the final decision. However, the government has rejected the suggestion and insists that the Lords must back down.
Conservative spokesman Nick Hawkins accused the government of “trying to bully” the Electoral Commission and insisted the Lords were “absolutely right to continue to insist on backing the Electoral Commission”.
MPs again voted 308 to 185 in favour of trials in all four regions, returning the European Parliamentary and Local Elections (Pilots) Bill to the House of Lords.
The bill must be passed in time for electoral registration officers to make the necessary preparations.
Parliament rises for its Easter break on April 1st and nominations for the elections close on May 13th.
All-postal voting trials have already taken place in smaller areas.
