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We will keep fighting to make the Government take the threat of seriously, writes Conservative MP Katie Lam
Our democracy is incredibly precious. The fact we live in a country where fundamental decisions about our nation’s future are made by representatives of the people, chosen through free and fair elections, should be an immense source of pride for us all.
But that democracy cannot be sustained unless we tell the truth – however difficult that might sometimes be – about the threats which face it.
And chief among those threats is the rise of coercion, fraud and poisonous sectarianism in our democratic process. Far too many candidates are now appealing to particular ethnic, religious, or cultural groups, rather than to the individual interests of voters or to the national interest. This is profoundly dangerous and we must do everything we can to root it out.
This week in Parliament, I raised the fact that candidates are, all too often, using foreign languages in their campaign material. At the Gorton & Denton by-election earlier this year, the Green Party published leaflets in Urdu, telling voters that if they wanted to “give the Muslims a strong voice, give your vote to the Greens”.
We proposed changes which would have banned leaflets like these. Instead, all election material should be in English, or in another native language of the British Islands, so that every voter can understand what candidates are saying.
But the response from Labour, the Lib Dems, and the Greens was as predictable as it was depressing. One Liberal Democrat MP even suggested, because English had borrowed words from Latin over the centuries, we should tolerate candidates campaigning in Urdu.
This is, clearly, completely mad. The fact of the matter is that voters must be able to understand what would-be representatives are saying (to them and to everybody else), and in the vast majority of the country, the language of public life in this country is English. Expecting candidates to use that language is the bare minimum, but Labour, Lib Dems and the Greens refuse to meet even this baseline expectation.
Another symptom of sectarianism is the rise of so-called family voting – where a senior male family member directs other members of their family, particularly women, on how to vote, often at polling stations. It is a direct assault on two important principles. The first is every single voter must be able to vote on the basis of their individual beliefs and interests. The second is those ballots should be cast in secret, without pressure or oversight. Those two principles are fundamental to the functioning of our democracy.
Any cultural practice that results in husbands instructing their wives on how to vote, or which results in fathers instructing their daughters on how to vote, is an insult to the liberties enjoyed by women in this country. It cannot stand. In 2023, Conservatives strengthened the law to protect the secrecy of the ballot, but in some council areas, they still turn a blind eye.
Again, at the Gorton and Denton by-election, observers reported family voting at more than two-thirds of polling stations. It may have influenced more than one in ten voters.
Democracy Volunteers, the group that identified these breaches, are non-partisan election observers. They are accredited by the Electoral Commission and have been independently observing elections for more than a decade.
And this is far from the only case. In Birmingham, polling station staff witnessed family voting at fifty polling stations in this year’s local elections. Despite evidence being passed by the council to the police, no further action has been taken.
Yet in Parliament, Labour and Green MPs denied that evidence. They did not want to accept the truth, because doing so would have forced them to confront the damage their approach has done to our country and to our democracy.
We will keep fighting to make the Government take the threat of sectarianism seriously. Our democracy is far too precious to let them keep turning a blind eye.
