Seòmar agus comataidhean

Edward Mountain is next.

Louise Edwards would like to comment.

I will let Louise Edwards comment and then I will allow you to come back in.

Bob, do you want to come back in? I was going to open up the discussion, because I know that voter ID is the crucial area for a lot of committee members.

Louise Edwards would like to come in.

Do you have confidence that the defence of it being, in essence, an entirely separate event—happening in the same venue, but not in the same place within the venue—would be sufficient to protect from subsequent accusations the individuals who would have to make very difficult on-the-spot decisions? I know that that is a hard question to answer.

Our guests on our second panel are all joining us online. I welcome Jess Garland from the Electoral Reform Society, Dr Catriona Burness from the Royal National Institute of Blind People Scotland and Ethan Young from Inclusion Scotland.

Thank you for putting yourselves up today to submit evidence. In order to maximise the time that we have available to inquire about various subjects, we will move straight to questions. Please do not feel that everyone needs to answer every question. If you would like to contribute, please type the letter R in the chat function and we will know that you want to add something.

I will kick off with an open question, which I would like you all to respond to—just to contradict my previous statement. Will you give us a short statement about the barriers and challenges that are faced by people who want to vote?

Can I push you on that point? Are you suggesting that some of the hurdles that exist at the moment are excessive and that to add to them would cause problems or are you saying that we have enough hurdles at the moment?

Absolutely. I recognise that there is a difference between the events that happen on the day, face to face, and what is in legislation.

Absolutely. I just have a point about proxy votes. The memorandum that we are considering is silent on proxy votes, simply because the Government is indicating that no legislative consent would be required in that respect.