Political Parties and Elections Bill

My Lords, I do not know whether I misheard the noble Lord, Lord Tyler, but I think he said something to the effect that procedures for local referendums are not in place. His amendment is quite misconceived. It is putting the cart before the horse. He wants to put into the Bill before us today something to do with the powers of the Electoral Commission, which exists and has several new powers given to it by this Bill, but only on the basis that there are procedures for local referendums on the recall by constituents of an MP found guilty of misconduct. The detail of how that would be done, how the referendums would take place, or what is meant by misconduct, to which my noble friend Lord Foulkes, referred, is all left unexplained. That is hardly surprising because, as the noble Lord admits, there are no such referendums for recall at the moment. The amendment should be ruled out—not out of order, although it is practically out of order because it depends on things that do not currently exist.