There’s an old trick governments use when drafting legislation: put something controversial in the early clauses, and hide the more important issues later on. Opposition MPs and journalists will put all their effort into the first part, and miss the other issues altogether.
The UK’s Elections Bill, which Parliament debates this autumn, is a classic of the genre. It begins with proposals about voter ID – already a controversial issue, with accusations flying about voter suppression. But it has all the hallmarks of a trap.
But surprisingly, this part of the proposal is not as bad as expected. For example, the bill says that local authorities must issue free local voter identification documents, as is already the case in Northern Ireland, with no discernible adverse effect on turnout. The debate will nevertheless rage, and the government might even concede on a few technical points. That debate over, the government hopes that everyone will lose interest in the bill.
