Reproduced under licence No P2006000461  

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The noble Lord will know that I could not possibly resist pointing out that in his amendment he suggests that we should consult all political parties. We dug out the list of political parties that we have; there are 317 on the GB register, and I might hold a short quiz later to see how many noble Lords recognise them. I have no idea what these political parties are, but I love them. There is the British Unicorn Party, the Church of the Militant Elvis Party, the Grumpy Old Men Political Party, the Idle Toad Party, the Fancy Dress Party, and the Make Politicians History Party,

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which is a particular favourite of mine. There are many, including the Rock and Roll Loony Party and the Short Fat Solicitor Party. They will all write to me as a consequence of my reading out their names. There are many interesting parties, and I know that the noble Lord did not intend that-but he will know that I could not resist the opportunity to read out the names of some of the more interesting parties. There are 51 parties in Northern Ireland on the register as well.
   I come to my principal difference with the noble Lord and the noble Baroness. In taking information from the local register, which we have described as being the fundamental part of how we collect information and keep the register, and transferring it to a database, we think that we have identified the right consultees in statutory terms to make sure that we do it properly. We do not rule out talking to other people, but we do not want to put it in statute that we have to consult a whole range of people for whom this not necessarily a primary purpose. They will of course have an interest and we would want to talk to them, but there is a difference between them and statutory consultees. Given what are seeking to do and the importance of who are the right people to consult, I hope that the noble Lord will feel able to withdraw his amendment.

  Lord Greaves: The Minister may be interested to learn that the Idle Toads are force to be reckoned with in South Ribble, where they have a group on the council. They are led by a very interesting gentleman who looks rather like an Old Testament prophet, so he would fit in here. When I knew him, he was the Labour Party's chairman of leisure on Lancashire County Council, but he is now an Idle Toad and leads a very successful local party in that part of Lancashire, much to the regret of my party and no doubt others as well. I thought that the Minister would like to know that.

 
I understand that there are lots of political parties nowadays-I am astonished that there are only 317-but consulting people in the age of computers and e-mail is not very difficult, so that is not an excuse. I am not suggesting that my list is the correct one, but the role of local government is more important than the Minister said. If the CORE schemes are to be successful, they will impact substantially on the electoral registration work and other work of the local authorities in the relevant areas. That matter needs further thought.
   The Minister said that the major political parties have a say because these matters come to Parliament. It is important to differentiate between the noble Lord, Lord Rennard, in his capacity as chief executive of the Liberal Democrats and my noble friend Lord Rennard in his capacity here. There is a difference. It is not true to say that parties are consulted because a matter comes to Parliament. The parties should be consulted directly, and not indirectly because they happen to have some representatives in the House of Commons or in your Lordships' House.