The government was “timid” and “incremental” when deciding what to include in its elections bill, a former minister who helped write it has said, as she urged the incoming prime minister, Andy Burnham, to go further.
Rushanara Ali, who resigned as democracy minister last August, said the draft legislation still contained big gaps when it came to voting reform, cryptocurrency donations and social media regulation.
She called on Burnham to listen to the concerns of many Labour MPs who have been seeking to amend the bill, which was delayed this week to give parliamentary time to the Hillsborough law instead.
“If I had my way at the time, I would have made the bill much, much more comprehensive,” Ali said. “But I was working within the confines, frankly, of an incremental approach – quite timid and limited.
“I wanted more on harassment, intimidation, online hostility and hatred … But it was a challenge trying to move things on the DSIT [Department for Science, Innovation and Technology] side.”
Her criticisms of Keir Starmer’s government echo many of the frustrations of Labour MPs who believe the prime minister’s caution was a key reason for the party’s slump in the polls.
Many of them are hoping Burnham will prove more willing to embrace radical change, though he is likely to face many of the same electoral and financial impediments that stymied his predecessor.
Ali is one of a number of Labour MPs who are seeking changes to the representation of the people bill and who were preparing to rebel against the government in a series of votes on Tuesday.
That prospect became more distant when ministers delayed the next stage of the bill until after the summer recess in order to make time to debate the Hillsborough law.
The delay gives Burnham a chance to shape the bill as he sees fit. Ali is one of dozens of Labour MPs calling for the government to set up a national commission on voting reform to make recommendations for a more representative system before the next election.
She is also backing calls to ban crypto donations entirely, rather than sticking to the government’s current moratorium.
Labour MPs have been campaigning for the government to be tougher on digital currencies since it emerged that Reform UK took millions of pounds’ worth of undisclosed gifts from crypto entrepreneurs.
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“I cannot understand why the government is going down this moratorium route rather than a ban,” she said. “The scope for changing it to a ban, which many of us believe will be the case, means that you have to go through the legislative process again.
“I just think that that’s leaving the door open for further interference in our democracy through illegitimate donations, and that needs to be dealt with right now.”
Other changes Ali is seeking to the bill include tougher regulation of disinformation on social media and stricter rules to prevent MPs and candidates being harassed at elections.
Lucy Powell, a Burnham ally who is tipped to run his “No 10 North” operation, has tabled an amendment which would impose similar restrictions on social media companies in the run-up to an election as apply to broadcasters.
“We’ve got to act now,” Ali said. “If we don’t, deepfake and disinformation, and the onslaught of major influences with hundreds of millions of followers that are peddling far-right hostility, is going to infect our politics with a kind of poison we’ve never seen before.”
