EU Referendum - Voter Registration - A nightmare of a paper chase!

I had planned to do a walk today: fresh air and exercise and all that.  Unfortunately, the weather turned dull with bouts of heavy rain so I abandoned the idea of the walk.  I suppose that I could have found something better to do but I ended up delving into the law behind Voter Registration for the EU Referendum.  Get a life I hear you say!  OK - but it demonstrated what an absolute mess our statute law is in.

It is now over 14 years since Lord Justice Laws expressed dismay in the "Metric Martyrs" case about the "nightmare of a paper chase" involved in weights and measures legislation.  He was dealing with criminal offences relating to how vegetables were weighed out for customers and said - "I regard it as lamentable that criminal offences should be created by such a maze of cross-references in subordinate legislation."

The same could be said of Voter Registration.  I will try to demonstrate - as briefly as possible - why.

Extending the Voter registration deadline

Update 10th June:  The Regulations were approved by both Houses of Parliament on 9th June.  It seems likely that House of Commons will examine further the problems that arose.  See The Regulations - "made" at 6.29 pm on Thursday 9th June.  Somewhat in excess of 400,000 people were added to the electoral register over 8th and 9th June.

Original post:

Here is a link to the draft Regulations which are to be put to Parliament for approval today (9th June) - The European Union Referendum (Voter Registration) Regulations 2016.   See also House of Commons - Debate on Voter Registration Regulations.


The power to make these Regulations is stated to be - sections 4(1) and (5), 9(5) and 11(1) of the European Union Referendum Act 2015.

The reason for the extension (from midnight Tuesday 7th June to midnight Thursday 9th June) is that the computer system handling registrations was unable to cope with late demand on Tuesday evening - BBC News 8th June.

Convoluted law-making:

Justice Committee - The Magistracy (2)

The House of Commons Justice Committee is conducting an Inquiry into the Role of the Magistracy and has concluded its evidence sessions.  The first of those sessions was covered in an earlier post on 24th March - Justice Committee - The Magistracy. 

A second session was held on 10th May and this took evidence from six Magistrates.   The final session was held on 7th June 2016 with evidence from the Magistrates' Association; the Senior Presiding Judge (Lord Justice Fulford) and the Chief Magistrate (Mr Howard Riddle) and, finally, from the Parliamentary Under-Secretary of State at the Ministry of Justice (Mr Shailesh Vara MP).

UK and the EU (10) - What if it is Brexit?

There is little doubt that the present House of Commons has more MPs in favour of remaining in the European Union (EU) than leaving it.  So, bearing in mind that this is a referendum of the whole of the United Kingdom, what might happen in Parliament if a majority of voters vote to leave (i.e. Brexit)?  Lots of possibilities might arise and much recent media comment has focused on the majority in the House of Commons trying to force the government to keep Britain inside the EU single market - BBC News 6th June 2016.

If Brexit takes place, a number of alternative arrangements are possible - see Alternatives to membership: possible models for the UK outside the EU - (a document required by the Referendum Act 2015 and issued by the government). 

Deepcut

Update - Addendum 6th June 2016 

Privates Sean Benton (died June 1995) - Cheryl James (died November 1995) - Geoff Gray (died September 2001) - James Collinson (died March 2002).  They were all at Deepcut Barracks and all died from gunshots - BBC News 1st February 2016.

The website Deepcut The Truth has the following about each of the soldiers - Sean Benton (5 wounds to his chest) - Cheryl Jones (a gunshot to the head) - Geoff Gray (two gunshots to the head) - James Collinson - (a gunshot to the head).

An inquest into the death of Cheryl James has just ended. 

General Election 2015 ~ Thanet South and allegations of unlawful electoral expenses

The General Election 2015 resulted in a Conservative government and it has a working majority in the House of Commons of 17 - (State of Parties).  This was rather a surprise at the time since the majority of political commentators expected the outcome to be a "hung Parliament" with the possibility of a further coalition government.  As with all General Elections there were some notable political casualties including the UK Independence Party Leader Mr Nigel Farage who lost his seat to Conservative Mr Craig Mackinlay.

The Daily Mail 1st June 2016 reported the decision of District Judge (Magistrates' Courts) Barron at Folkestone Magistrates' Court granting the Kent Police a further 12 months to investigate allegations relating to undeclared, or improperly declared, election expenses in Thanet South during the 2015 General Election.  It appears that several other Police Forces are investigating allegations of a similar nature.  Here are some media reports of the court's decision:

Isle of Thanet Gazette 1st June 2016

The Guardian 1st June - Judge grants extension to police investigation ....  

Daily Mail 1st June - Kent Police given more time to investigate Tory electoral fraud claims

The Telegraph 1st June

5 Essex Court have stated that Dijen Basu QC is to advise the Police in their investigation into the election expenses allegations:-

"The allegations centre on the Conservative Party’s Battlebus2015 campaign, where activists were bussed into key marginals in order to campaign in the 2015 General Election. The constituencies concerned include South Thanet, where Nigel Farage was defeated by the conservative candidate. The Battlebus2015 visited 29 constituencies and the Government’s working majority in the House of Commons is only 17."

Expenses limits:

A few items of legal interest

Whilst the impending EU referendum is dominating the news, here are some other items of interest.

1) Excellent BBC Law in Action on history of crimes against humanity and genocide as international crimes. By Joshua Rozenberg.

2) Julie Hambleton - The Justice Gap - The hierarchy of justice: why Yewtree but not the Birmingham bombings?  .... and, it seems, New Inquests have been ordered.    Video - Birmingham pub bombings: Inquests reopened.   For a view that this can only lead to heartache see the article by Chris Mullin - The Guardian 1st June 2016 

My post of 26th November 2014 - The Birmingham Pub Bombings 1974 - another day that should live in criminal infamy.  In that post I looked at the case, the trial, the Royal Commission on Criminal Justice, various improvements to the law but cautioned against any complacency that miscarriages of justice cannot occur today.

See also the website Justiceforthe21

In McCaughey [2011] UKSC 20 the UK Supreme Court held (by a 6:1 majority) that, a Coroner holding an inquest must comply with the procedural obligation under Article 2 of the European Convention on Human Rights.  This applies even where the death occurred prior to the coming into force of the Human Rights Act 1998 (i.e. 2nd October 2000).  The McCaughey case arose from death in 1990 at the hands of British Forces in Northern Ireland.

On the Coroner's decision to resume the inquests see the article by Nageena Khalique QC 1st June 2016. The coroner held that the power to resume the inquest was preserved notwithstanding the changes in legislation between 1974 and 2016. It was held that the inquests were suspended and the requisite power to resume the inquest was preserved by paragraph 8, Schedule 1 of the CJA 2009.

3) The Round-up: Criminal justice close to breaking point - UK Human Rights blog 31st May.

4) Michael Gove's new advisory panel on how to improve the Criminal Justice System - Law Society Gazette 28th May.

5) The secret family courts narrative has a lot to answer for - John Bolch on the Marilyn Stowe blog

6) Here is a useful website by Scoop It! covering Children in Law

7) The Guardian - The conviction of Hissène Habré: Africa points the way