Scrutable

So many toxic bills going through parliament it's hard to keep track. I thought I'd posted on this one already but I'd only touched on the voter ID requirement rather than the bill as a whole. And tbh I'm not going to do that now. Maybe another time. Today I wanted to flag one small part of the bill that shows that no matter how minor the opportunity to screw people over, the Tories will take it.

According to the RNIB the Bill, now on its second reading in the House of Lords, removes part of the law spelling out the irrefutable right of blind and partially sighted people to vote “without any assistance”. Instead, polling station staff will only need to do what’s “reasonable” to ensure a secret vote, substantially weakening the legal rights of blind and visually impaired people. Of course, what's 'reasonable' for those staffing the polling station is likely to be a lot less than what's 'reasonable' for blind voters. So that's another group of people disenfranchised.

The Bill is here for anyone who wants a look.

Cheers for that

There are rallies in London and Manchester tomorrow (5 Feb) against the Elections Bill. I'll add that to the list of "reasons this bill is sh.t"

CF

The Electoral Commission has written to government ministers to urge them not to vote for giving parliament greater say in its work.

In a strongly worded and highly unusual public letter, the Electoral Commission said provisions in the elections bill for ministers to draw up a new “strategy and policy statement” – which the watchdog must take account of – had no precedent in comparable democracies.

They have a short twitter thread here.

Their letter can be seen here.