REVIEW OF POLLING DISTRICTS AND POLLING PLACES IN LEEDS

That this House views with grave concern proposals by the Leeds Conservative Group, backed in most cases by its Liberal Democrat allies, to remove polling stations and merge polling districts in a way that would make it more difficult for the overwhelming majority of those electors in the affected areas to cast their votes; welcomes the fact that council officers evaluating such proposals against the appropriate accessibility tests have refused to support them; notes that council officers have endorsed proposals from all parties that genuinely attempt to improve access to polling places; expresses concern that despite this objective scrutiny by officers it still remains open for the controlling coalition of Conservatives and Liberal Democrats to use their majority to vote their proposals through the council; and calls on the Electoral Commission to monitor closely the review of polling districts and polling places in Leeds to ensure that voting is not made more difficult and that the objectivity of council officers is maintained.