European Parliament (Number of MEPs and Distribution between Electoral Regions) (United Kingdom and Gibraltar) Order 2008

rose to move, That the Grand Committee do report to the House that it has considered the European Parliament (Number of MEPs and Distribution between Electoral Regions) (United Kingdom and Gibraltar) Order 2008. The noble Lord said: The order relates to the European parliamentary elections to be held in the United Kingdom in June 2009, and forms an important part of the Government’s preparations for these elections. Its purpose is to provide for the reduction in the number of United Kingdom members of the European Parliament from 78 to 72 as a result of the accession of two new states, Bulgaria and Romania, to the European Union. The order also sets out how the new number of MEPs is to be divided between the electoral regions in the UK. The new number of MEPs, as distributed by the order, will apply to the elections that are to be held in 2009. I shall go as briefly as I can into some of the background to why this order is necessary. The treaty of Luxembourg, which entered into force on 1 January 2007, provides for the accession of Romania and the Republic of Bulgaria to the EU, resulting in an enlarged European Union of 27 states. It was agreed after negotiations, in which we played a full part, that the European Parliament would have a maximum number of 736 MEPs and that the number of MEPs allocated to the existing member states would be reduced to accommodate the new accession states. The treaty of Luxembourg gives effect to the intent of the treaty of Nice that 12 new states would join the European Union, resulting in an expanded union. Ten of the 12 candidate states joined by virtue of the Athens treaty, which entered into force on 1 May 2004. The Luxembourg treaty provides for the accession of the remaining two. The Government fully support the enlargement of the EU, but I am sure noble Lords will agree that it makes sense to put a limit on the total number of MEPs elected by EU states so that the European Parliament does not become too unwieldy. A necessary consequence of that is that the number of MEPs elected by existing member states, including us, needs to be reduced in order to accommodate the new member states. Parliament has given its approval to the Luxembourg treaty. The order implements the revised allocation of 72 UK MEPs provided for in that treaty. As I have explained, the UK currently has 78 MEPs. Under the European Parliamentary Elections Act 2002, for the purposes of elections to the European Parliament the UK is divided up into 12 electoral regions. England is divided up into nine, and Scotland, Wales and Northern Ireland each constitute a single electoral region. The 2002 Act specifies how many MEPs each region has. The European Parliament (Representation) Act 2003 provides a mechanism for implementing any change under community law in the total number of MEPs to be elected for the United Kingdom. Where there is such a change, the Secretary of State for Justice will ask the independent Electoral Commission to make a recommendation to him about how the new number of UK MEPs should be distributed between electoral regions. The 2003 Act specifies that in making a recommendation, the Electoral Commission must ensure that each electoral region is allocated at least three MEPs, and the ratio of electors to MEPs is, as nearly as possible, the same in each electoral region. The Act provides that the recommendation made by the Electoral Commission must be reflected in the order that implements the change. There is no discretion to reject or modify the recommendation. In January last year, the Secretary of State asked the Electoral Commission to make such a recommendation in respect of our reduced number of seats. The Electoral Commission made its recommendation at the end of July 2007 and, in accordance with the 2003 Act, the commission’s recommendation was laid before Parliament in November 2007. The method used by the commission, the Sainte-Laguë method, was fully explained in its report, and I need not go into details here. However, the method was supported by a number of expert sources such as the Royal Statistical Society and the Office for National Statistics. The recommendation was that in six electoral regions—eastern, north-east, south-east, Yorkshire and the Humber, Wales and Northern Ireland—the number of seats remains unchanged, while the other six regions have all lost a single seat. I do not think that I need to go through the details, unless of course I am asked to do so. I remind noble Lords that the order applies to the United Kingdom and Gibraltar, because Gibraltar was enfranchised for the purposes of European parliamentary elections from June 2004 and has been combined with the south-west region to form a new electoral region for the European parliamentary elections. We have consulted the Electoral Commission on the order and it has given its support. The commission has made a fair and reasonable recommendation as to how the new number of MEPs should be distributed across the electoral regions in accordance with the 2003 Act. The order is necessary for the effective running of the European parliamentary elections to be held in June 2009. I beg to move. Moved, That the Grand Committee do report to the House that it has considered the European Parliament (Number of MEPs and Distribution between Electoral Regions) (United Kingdom and Gibraltar) Order 2008. 22nd Report from the Joint Committee on Statutory Instruments.—(Lord Bach.)