Political Parties and Elections Bill

My Lords, I thank the noble Lord for raising this topic. The amendment would compel the Secretary of State to request the Electoral Commission to undertake a review and report on arrangements that would enable constituents to recall a sitting Member of Parliament. As has been said, a number of recall systems are in operation internationally, most notably, as the noble Lord, Lord Bates, just reminded us, in 18 states in the United States of America. Detailed characteristics vary but they commonly involve a certain number of electors petitioning for the holding of a ballot at which an elected official may be voted out of office mid-term and/or for a by-election for their replacement. I agree with noble Lords that there is no doubt that the issues that have arisen in recent weeks have badly dented—if not worse—the public’s confidence in politicians of all parties and in the institutions of our democracy. As my right honourable friend the Prime Minister made clear last week, there is no more pressing task for all of us involved in public life than to respond to the public’s demand for reform. In his Statement on constitutional reform on 10 June, the Prime Minister set out the Government’s intention to bring forward new legislative proposals following cross-party discussions as the first stage of this reform. These proposals include, as the noble Lord, Lord Tyler reminded us when he moved this amendment, the immediate creation of a new parliamentary standards authority and the agreement of a statutory code of conduct for all Members of Parliament. The Prime Minister said: ""There will be consultation with all sides of the House to come forward with new proposals for dealing effectively with inappropriate behaviour, including the potential options of effective exclusion and recall for gross financial misconduct, identified by the new independent regulator and by the House itself".—[Official Report, Commons, 10/6/09; col. 796.]" Provision for the recall of elected officials exists in 18 of the 50 US states, although not at federal level. The American experience has been varied. It is certainly true to say that the recall of elected officials has not been common. Until 2003, when the Californian governor was successfully recalled following a recall election, despite other attempts, the only governor to be successfully recalled was in 1921 in North Dakota. There are examples at a more local level of government in the United States of successful recall. The variation in the systems in operation across the 18 states is instructive when considering whether similar arrangements might be appropriate for the United Kingdom. For example, as the noble Lord, Lord Bates, pointed out, the question arises of what constitute the grounds for recall. Specific grounds are required in only eight states and most commonly relate to gross misconduct, violation of oath or criminal convictions. All 18 US states have some form of petition process, but the thresholds vary. Usually the formula is based on a percentage of the vote in the last election for the office in question, but there are other variants. There are also variations in the way in which the ballots are conducted, including the point at which the individual who is subject to the recall is permitted to put forward their own case. No doubt all these questions merit careful consideration; indeed, the amendment envisages putting these considerations into the hands of the Electoral Commission. However, to task the Electoral Commission with policy work of this nature is inconsistent with the recommendation of the 11th report of the Committee on Standards in Public Life, which recommended that, ""the Electoral Commission should no longer have a role in undertaking policy development in relation to electoral legislation. This function should be the responsibility of the appropriate Secretary of State"." I think that the commission agrees. Its briefing document for the Report stage of the Bill notes, in relation to the amendment: ""The Commission would of course review and report on the administration of any procedure to recall Members of Parliament, were we directed to do so. In doing so, we would focus on the extent to which any such procedure was run consistently, professionally and with a primary focus on voters, in the same way as we approach our reports on other elections"." The commission clearly envisages that its role will be limited to the consideration of how any ballot that was conducted as part of a procedure ran, as in other elections. I am sure that there is agreement on all sides that this suggestion merits careful consideration and, indeed, the Prime Minister has made clear his commitment to taking this debate forward. I therefore hope that noble Lords will agree that legislating to force a debate on this issue will not be necessary and that, in any event, the Electoral Commission is not best placed to undertake this work. Again on behalf of the House, I thank the noble Lord, Lord Tyler, for raising this very current issue and I hope that he will consider withdrawing his amendment today.