Electoral Administration Bill

I shall resist the temptation to digress too far in response to some of the points made by the noble Lord, Lord Tyler. Suffice it to say on his point about reducing the number of MPs, I invite him to re-read the report published in 2000 of the Commission to Strengthen Parliament, which I had the opportunity to chair and of which my noble friend Lord Brooke was a member. It deals with the problem. Nor do I intend to go down the path of responding to the noble Lord’s points about first past the post, save to say that it delivers benefits which the alternative systems on offer do not. But that is something we will doubtless debate on another occasion. I rise only to support my noble friend’s amendment and the principle that underpins it, which is what she is concerned with since I suspect that it will not be accepted today. We are really looking at the principle which has motivated it. The amendment is now on the record and so we can pursue it in order to deliver the particular principle that she has enunciated. The amendment seeks to deliver something that was pressed for in the 19th century. Indeed, I think that the noble Lord, Lord Tyler, touched on the point. At the time there was a demand for one man, one vote, which was then extended to one person, one vote, one value. What that referred to was the equality that is embodied in my noble friend’s amendment. So in principle it is absolutely right and there is a case for saying that it is a very modest amendment. There is now an argument for moving beyond it and reducing further the representation from Scotland on the precedent set by Stormont from 1922 to 1972. Once you provide a parliament, there is a case for not offering equality with the rest of the United Kingdom. There is a clear precedent. Indeed, when Stormont was abolished, the number of Members from Northern Ireland sitting at Westminster was increased; so one could go further. But the principle that my noble friend enunciated is absolutely right. It is something we should pursue in greater detail. I look forward to an opportunity to do that.