UK Parliament / Open data

Parliamentary Voting System and Constituencies Bill

Debate on bills on Monday, 6 September 2010, in the House of Commons, led by Nick Clegg. The answering member was Jack Straw.
Parliamentary Voting System and Constituencies Bill. Second reading debate. Amendment negatived on division (254 to 347). Main question agreed on division (328 to 269). Programme motion agreed on division (324 to 272). Money resolution agreed on division (319 to 91).

About these Parliamentary proceedings

Reference

515 c34-146 

Session

2010-12

Department

Deputy Prime Minister

Legislative stage

Second reading

Procedure

Programme motions
Money resolutions
Reasoned amendments

Chamber / Committee

House of Commons chamber

Related items

Parliamentary Voting System and Constituencies Bill: Report for second reading. Political and Constitutional Reform Select Committee first report with appendices and formal minutes.
Tuesday, 27 July 2010
Parliamentary committees
House of Commons
Government proposals for voting and parliamentary reform. Evidence 22 July 2010. (Vote)
Thursday, 22 July 2010
Parliamentary committees
House of Commons
Government proposals for voting and parliamentary reform. Evidence 27 July 2010. (Vote)
Tuesday, 27 July 2010
Parliamentary committees
House of Commons
The coalition Government's programme of political and constitutional reform. Evidence 15 July 2010.
Thursday, 15 July 2010
Parliamentary committees
House of Commons

Proceeding contributions

Fiona Mactaggart | 515 c114-5 (516 7-8MC); 515 c114-5 (516 7-8MC) (Link to this contribution) In the rhetoric that he used in introducing the Bill, the Deputy Prime Minister said that it would p...
Mark Harper | 515 c129 (516 7-8MC) (Link to this contribution) No, we do not. I can assure the hon. Member for Slough (Fiona Mactaggart) that the reference in the...

Show all contributions (244)
Speaker | 515 c53 (Link to this contribution) Order. Before I call the next speaker, may I remind the House that some 74 Members wish to speak in ...
Guto Bebb | 515 c101 (Link to this contribution) On the reduction in the number of Welsh MPs from 40 to 30, does the hon. Gentleman agree that, in th...
Jonathan Edwards | 515 c101-2 (Link to this contribution) The hon. Gentleman makes a valid point, which was also made by the right hon. Member for Torfaen (Pa...
Michael Connarty | 515 c101 (Link to this contribution) I am heartened by the second part of the hon. Gentleman's contribution. Will he support the amendmen...
Jonathan Edwards | 515 c101 (Link to this contribution) The hon. Gentleman will have to wait; our voting intentions will be made clear. We have many concer...
Charles Walker | 515 c100 (Link to this contribution) What I am saying to the hon. Member for Cheltenham (Martin Horwood) is that under the AV system, par...
Bernard Jenkin | 515 c99 (Link to this contribution) If my hon. Friend will allow me, let me say, with the greatest respect to the Liberal party, that me...
Charles Walker | 515 c99 (Link to this contribution) I am delighted that the Liberal Democrats had such a frank and open discussion and perhaps we can le...
Martin Horwood | 515 c99 (Link to this contribution) The hon. Gentleman must make it clear to the House that he is speaking for his own party. In the cas...
Charles Walker | 515 c98-9 (Link to this contribution) When introducing this Bill, the Deputy Prime Minister dressed it up as the beginning of new politics...
Phil Wilson | 515 c107-9 (Link to this contribution) The only way in which we can go ahead with constitutional reform is by having political consensus ac...
Richard Shepherd | 515 c109-10 (Link to this contribution) When it comes to electoral systems, the question that I am most concerned about now, in this later p...
Tom Greatrex | 515 c110-1 (Link to this contribution) Given the strictures on time, and as many colleagues wish to speak, I shall make a short contributio...
Iain Stewart | 515 c106-7 (Link to this contribution) My hon. Friend makes a powerful point, but the key issue is that, in contrasting similar electorates...
Andrew Griffiths | 515 c106 (Link to this contribution) May I draw my hon. Friend's attention to a similar case involving my constituency? Burton has an ele...
Iain Stewart | 515 c107 (Link to this contribution) I am a Unionist, so I think that the decision of the United Kingdom would have to stand. It would be...
Robert Halfon | 515 c107 (Link to this contribution) What should be done were Scotland to vote in favour of AV in the referendum and England were to vote...
Christopher Chope | 515 c102-4 (Link to this contribution) I was elected on the Conservative party manifesto, which states on page 67:"““We support the first-p...
Iain Stewart | 515 c105-6 (Link to this contribution) I support the Bill not because I think it is perfect—far from it in fact, and I will touch on its de...
Austin Mitchell | 515 c104-5 (Link to this contribution) I have sat through debates on many unappetising measures in this place, both Thatcherite and new Lab...
George Eustice | 515 c113-4 (Link to this contribution) My hon. Friend makes an absolutely valid point. Cornwall is a special case. It is not just a normal ...
Mark Lazarowicz | 515 c112-3 (Link to this contribution) In the light of what the hon. Gentleman has just said, and of his welcome endorsement of giving the ...
George Eustice | 515 c112 (Link to this contribution) I shall support the Bill this evening because I have always been a strong supporter of referendums. ...
Tom Greatrex | 515 c111-2 (Link to this contribution) I was just going to make a point about the report on those elections that was commissioned from the ...
David Tredinnick | 515 c111 (Link to this contribution) I have heard the point about the number of spoiled papers before, but surely there must be a way of ...
Sheryll Murray | 515 c113 (Link to this contribution) Does my hon. Friend agree that it would be extremely unfair to expect one of the Cornish constituenc...
Robert Halfon | 515 c113 (Link to this contribution) Although I understand the merits of first past the post, does my hon. Friend agree that the one flaw...
George Eustice | 515 c113 (Link to this contribution) That is an interesting proposition and it may be one of the issues that is examined in Committee. Th...
Speaker | 515 c120 (Link to this contribution) Order. The wind-up speeches will begin at 9.30.
Andrea Leadsom | 515 c116 (Link to this contribution) The hon. Gentleman makes a very good point, but we have debated the matter at length this afternoon ...
Pete Wishart | 515 c116 (Link to this contribution) Does not first past the post lead to some curious results? For example, the Conservatives in Scotlan...
Lord Jackson of Peterborough | 515 c117 (Link to this contribution) I respect the hon. Gentleman, who is making a powerful speech, but does not he find it perverse and ...
Michael McCann | 515 c116-7 (Link to this contribution) I am delighted that you have called me to speak in this debate, Mr Deputy Speaker, given that I sent...
Simon Hart | 515 c118-20 (Link to this contribution) Like many hon. Members, I trawled through the records to see how many of my constituents had raised ...
Bernard Jenkin | 515 c84 (Link to this contribution) I fear that many right hon. and hon. Members are finding this Bill to be a rude awakening to the rea...
Jim Shannon | 515 c84-5 (Link to this contribution) Does the hon. Gentleman agree that this is the most shabby style of legislative change that we have ...
Lord Dodds of Duncairn | 515 c83-4 (Link to this contribution) My hon. Friend endorses my point. On the relationship between the Bill and the devolved legislature...
Fiona Mactaggart | 515 c88 (Link to this contribution) Does the hon. Gentleman share my anxiety that the timetable for the first round of boundary reviews,...
Greg Mulholland | 515 c87-8 (Link to this contribution) It is amazing how many Labour Members seem to have forgotten that their manifesto stated that they w...
Emily Thornberry | 515 c86-7 (Link to this contribution) So this Bill will apparently be the biggest shake-up of democracy since 1832; well in Islington we k...
Bernard Jenkin | 515 c85-6 (Link to this contribution) I do agree, but I think the hon. Gentleman is a new Member, and it is a feature of politics that Gov...
Baroness Laing of Elderslie | 515 c91-2 (Link to this contribution) Contrary to the hon. Member for Caerphilly (Mr David), I support the Bill, but it requires the House...
Wayne David | 515 c90-1 (Link to this contribution) This is a far-reaching Bill, and it should have been the subject of pre-legislative scrutiny. What i...
Greg Mulholland | 515 c88-9 (Link to this contribution) I agree. We are all in limbo now because of the Bill. I believe that we should not make boundary cha...
Mark Williams | 515 c77-9 (Link to this contribution) I will not give way, if the hon. Gentleman will forgive me. Time is short. When we consider the abi...
Chris Ruane | 515 c79-80 (Link to this contribution) There is much wrong with the Bill, or Bills—I think there are two separate Bills, which have been wo...
Anne Main | 515 c80-1 (Link to this contribution) I have listened with interest to this debate, because I am deeply unhappy about the yoking together ...
Chris Ruane | 515 c80 (Link to this contribution) No, I will not. I had enough of the hon. Lady's nonsense in a previous intervention, which I will co...
Anne Main | 515 c81-2 (Link to this contribution) As someone who looks like he might have been got in a way that perhaps I could not be got, I accept ...
Barry Gardiner | 515 c81 (Link to this contribution) Does the hon. Lady agree that it might make better sense for her to oppose the Bill on Second Readin...
Lord McCrea of Magherafelt and Cookstown | 515 c83 (Link to this contribution) Does my right hon. Friend agree that there is a public concern that our politics is being manipulate...
Lord Dodds of Duncairn | 515 c82-3 (Link to this contribution) It is a pleasure to follow the hon. Member for St Albans (Mrs Main), whose speech has demonstrated a...
Stuart Bell | 515 c97 (Link to this contribution) I have not read the Liberal party manifesto in detail, but I am aware that it advocated 500 seats in...
Stuart Bell | 515 c96-7 (Link to this contribution) There are nods from those on the Liberal Front Bench. This Bill is even more of a pig in a poke. Wha...
Martin Horwood | 515 c97 (Link to this contribution) The hon. Gentleman seems to misunderstand the manifestos. Our manifesto certainly did argue for a mo...
Stuart Bell | 515 c97 (Link to this contribution) The hon. Gentleman shakes his head. He should read his own manifesto and see what it says. Let me a...
Stuart Bell | 515 c97 (Link to this contribution) It is no good the hon. Gentleman shaking his head. The Liberal party fought the general election on ...
Mark Durkan | 515 c92-3 (Link to this contribution) I can speak more warmly about the prospect of the alternative vote in the context of Northern Irelan...
Daniel Kawczynski | 515 c93-4 (Link to this contribution) Many hon. Members who have been in this place far longer than I have spent much time fighting for de...
Martin Horwood | 515 c94 (Link to this contribution) I disagree with, but respect, the hon. Gentleman's support for the first-past-the-post system. Would...
Daniel Kawczynski | 515 c94 (Link to this contribution) I will come on to that point, but I recall listening to the Prime Minister when he came to give Cons...
Stuart Bell | 515 c96 (Link to this contribution) Times have changed since 1922, but it is a mystery to behold how we are in the current situation. A...
Daniel Kawczynski | 515 c94-5 (Link to this contribution) Right, there we are: we are trying to follow the example of Papua New Guinea and Fiji. I have to sa...
Bernard Jenkin | 515 c94 (Link to this contribution) I hesitate to correct my hon. Friend, but the Australians use a variant of the alternative vote, not...
Brian H Donohoe | 515 c96 (Link to this contribution) Was my hon. Friend aware that in the '20s, the Liberal party in government—would you believe?—was op...
Stuart Bell | 515 c95-6 (Link to this contribution) I am grateful for the opportunity to follow the hon. Member for Shrewsbury and Atcham (Daniel Kawczy...
Andrew Turner | 515 c74-5 (Link to this contribution) I am very grateful to my hon. Friend. As I say, the Deputy Prime Minister has given no proper explan...
John Robertson | 515 c76-7 (Link to this contribution) The hon. Gentleman is right. If we are to introduce PR, let us have the same voting system for every...
Mark Williams | 515 c77 (Link to this contribution) It is a pleasure to speak in the debate on the Bill, which gives us the opportunity to improve our e...
John Robertson | 515 c76 (Link to this contribution) I give way to my hon. Friend; he is my hon. Friend on this subject.
Daniel Kawczynski | 515 c76 (Link to this contribution) Does the hon. Gentleman agree that there should be one voting system for all elections in the United...
John Robertson | 515 c76 (Link to this contribution) That is the problem that I will discuss in my speech. I would hazard a guess that I have a lot more ...
Iain Stewart | 515 c75 (Link to this contribution) Judging from the Library note, the hon. Gentleman's electorate number 61,000. If one adds on the 5,0...
Jim Dowd | 515 c77 (Link to this contribution) Will the hon. Gentleman give way?
David Davis | 515 c70-1 (Link to this contribution) The Deputy Prime Minister, when he opened this debate, presented this Bill as something designed to ...
David Davis | 515 c71-2 (Link to this contribution) If the hon. Gentleman will forgive me, I will not. I have only six minutes, unfortunately. This Hou...
Lord Murphy of Torfaen | 515 c72-3 (Link to this contribution) I almost entirely share the views of the right hon. Member for Haltemprice and Howden (Mr Davis). I...
Greg Mulholland | 515 c68 (Link to this contribution) I entirely agree with the hon. Gentleman that we should also have that debate. Does he agree that if...
Roger Godsiff | 515 c68-9 (Link to this contribution) In theory, registration should be compulsory at the moment. Indeed, I saw something issued by Greenw...
Baroness Laing of Elderslie | 515 c69 (Link to this contribution) Will the hon. Gentleman add something to that list? He rightly said that, currently, it is compulsor...
Roger Godsiff | 515 c69-70 (Link to this contribution) That might well be the case, and I shall come to that point in a moment. I hear what the hon. Lady s...
Andrew Turner | 515 c73-4 (Link to this contribution) This afternoon a delegation travelled from the Isle of Wight to present the results of an online pet...
Baroness Laing of Elderslie | 515 c74 (Link to this contribution) There is considerable support in the House for my hon. Friend's case. There is no logical reason why...
Angus Brendan MacNeil | 515 c60 (Link to this contribution) I am delighted that the hon. Gentleman has raised that matter. This morning, I travelled here by fer...
Robert Syms | 515 c57 (Link to this contribution) I rise to support the Bill. I am a supporter of first past the post, but frankly the system will not...
Angus Brendan MacNeil | 515 c59-60 (Link to this contribution) The Deputy Prime Minister spoke about reform of politics and political renewal. It is therefore perh...
Daniel Kawczynski | 515 c60 (Link to this contribution) The hon. Gentleman is issuing a lot of challenges to various political parties, so will he accept th...
Daniel Kawczynski | 515 c58 (Link to this contribution) My hon. Friend mentioned the elections to the European Parliament. If we are going to change any vot...
Robert Syms | 515 c58-9 (Link to this contribution) I am sure that that is the case. The basis of this Bill is still geographical representation, which...
Duncan Hames | 515 c58 (Link to this contribution) Does my hon. Friend agree that at a time when public servants across the public sector are being ask...
Robert Syms | 515 c58 (Link to this contribution) There is a broad point about the cost of Government, but there is the other point that Members of Pa...
Jack Straw | 515 c57 (Link to this contribution) I was trying to keep my remarks brief, but I did point out in the Queen's Speech debate that one ble...
Robert Syms | 515 c58 (Link to this contribution) After 30 years on the Front Bench for the right hon. Gentleman, it is nice to hear all his confessio...
Gary Streeter | 515 c60-2 (Link to this contribution) I have been a Member of this House for 18 years and as far as I can recall I have never voted agains...
Graham Allen | 515 c62-3 (Link to this contribution) It is a great privilege to make my first contribution as the newly elected Chair of the Political an...
Roger Williams | 515 c64-5 (Link to this contribution) That is a very difficult issue, but when we had public inquiries in our part of the world the most t...
Frank Doran | 515 c65-6 (Link to this contribution) I want to address the issue of boundaries and, as a Member from the north of Scotland, particularly ...
Jonathan Evans | 515 c66-8 (Link to this contribution) Thank you very much for giving me the opportunity to contribute to this debate, Madam Deputy Speaker...
Roger Godsiff | 515 c68 (Link to this contribution) I am most grateful for being called to speak in this important debate, Mr Deputy Speaker. I wish to ...
Roger Williams | 515 c63-4 (Link to this contribution) It is a great pleasure to follow the hon. Member for Nottingham North (Mr Allen). I especially noted...
Mark Williams | 515 c64 (Link to this contribution) I am not sure about the history of the circumstances of that, but does my hon. Friend not agree that...
Roger Williams | 515 c64 (Link to this contribution) Yes, I do very much welcome the decoupling of the seats for the Assembly and the electoral system fo...
Wayne David | 515 c64 (Link to this contribution) Is the hon. Gentleman in favour of the abolition of public inquiries?
Chris Ruane | 515 c53 (Link to this contribution) Will my right hon. Friend give way on that point?
Jack Straw | 515 c52-3 (Link to this contribution) I am coming to the close of my remarks. The right hon. Gentleman has repeatedly acknowledged that s...
Angus Brendan MacNeil | 515 c51 (Link to this contribution) Will the right hon. Gentleman give way?
Jack Straw | 515 c52 (Link to this contribution) The hon. Lady will recognise that we introduced agreed legislation on the phasing-in of individual r...
Baroness Laing of Elderslie | 515 c51-2 (Link to this contribution) I thank the right hon. Gentleman very much for giving way. He knows what I am going to say because w...
Jack Straw | 515 c51 (Link to this contribution) I shall break my undertaking and give way to the hon. Lady.
Simon Hughes | 515 c56 (Link to this contribution) Will the right hon. Lady give way?
Baroness Beckett | 515 c56-7 (Link to this contribution) I am sorry, but time is so short. I recognise the argument that the alternative vote does not creat...
Geraint Davies | 515 c54 (Link to this contribution) Will the hon. Gentleman give way?
Greg Hands | 515 c53-4 (Link to this contribution) I rise to support the Bill, although I shall talk mainly about part 2, on parliamentary boundary rev...
Geraint Davies | 515 c54 (Link to this contribution) Given that it has been said that the savings would be £12 million, how many hundred million pounds d...
Baroness Beckett | 515 c55-6 (Link to this contribution) The Bill is as dangerous as it is dishonest because it is rooted in a set of false premises. My righ...
Greg Hands | 515 c54-5 (Link to this contribution) That is a bit of a red herring because judicial activity that is happening through the current syste...
Anne McGuire | 515 c48 (Link to this contribution) Will my right hon. Friend give way?
Meg Hillier | 515 c47 (Link to this contribution) Today we heard from the hon. Member for Chelsea and Fulham (Greg Hands) that the number of people on...
Jack Straw | 515 c48 (Link to this contribution) As I shall point out, the Deputy Prime Minister is rather forgetful of some of the facts, but let me...
Jack Straw | 515 c47 (Link to this contribution) I will give way briefly to my hon. Friend, but then I must make progress.
Jack Straw | 515 c47 (Link to this contribution) I am grateful to the hon. Gentleman for accepting that what he said this morning is what he still be...
Jack Straw | 515 c46-7 (Link to this contribution) The parliamentary answers I gave were that the costs, on a variety of assumptions, would be somewher...
Tom Harris | 515 c46 (Link to this contribution) Can my right hon. Friend shed any light on the latest budget for the referendum? I believe that befo...
Jack Straw | 515 c46 (Link to this contribution) Indeed. I suspect it would be far better to have the referendum as a single-issue referendum on a se...
Jack Straw | 515 c50 (Link to this contribution) Yes, I agree. Let me pick up on something that the Deputy Prime Minister mentioned parenthetically ...
Jack Straw | 515 c50-1 (Link to this contribution) Allow me to make progress. Every single other constitutional measure that I can recall has been con...
Angus Brendan MacNeil | 515 c51 (Link to this contribution) Will the right hon. Gentleman give way?
Jack Straw | 515 c51 (Link to this contribution) If the hon. Gentleman does not mind, I need to make some progress so that others can get in. The De...
Richard Shepherd | 515 c49 (Link to this contribution) I am obliged to the right hon. Gentleman for giving way. The point just made is crucial to the equat...
Jack Straw | 515 c49 (Link to this contribution) I had not thought of that before, but I commend the strength of that point. It is why the banal comp...
David Davis | 515 c50 (Link to this contribution) I put exactly that point to the Deputy Prime Minister earlier. If we are not careful and the Bill go...
Jack Straw | 515 c49-50 (Link to this contribution) I entirely agree with the hon. Gentleman. I recall that when that point was put to the Deputy Prime ...
Charles Walker | 515 c49 (Link to this contribution) Is it not the case that we have 650 Members of Parliament because we draw the Executive from Parliam...
Jack Straw | 515 c48-9 (Link to this contribution) No. If I may, I shall make some progress. We left the Conservative laws in place. To deal with the ...
Jack Straw | 515 c45-6 (Link to this contribution) I began my contribution at about 4.40 pm and, as Mr Speaker said, more than 70 hon. and right hon. M...
Jack Straw | 515 c46 (Link to this contribution) My opinion is that if it were combined with the local elections and the national elections in Scotla...
Edward Leigh | 515 c46 (Link to this contribution) I agree, as is so often the case, with the right hon. Gentleman on the necessity of having this vita...
Jack Straw | 515 c46 (Link to this contribution) I am afraid I do not follow the hon. Gentleman's argument. I accept and respect the fact that people...
Daniel Kawczynski | 515 c46 (Link to this contribution) The right hon. Gentleman says that he is in favour of AV, but can he answer one simple question—the ...
Nick Clegg | 515 c43 (Link to this contribution) I would like to make a bit more progress as many Members want to contribute to the debate. I am ple...
Bernard Jenkin | 515 c43 (Link to this contribution) I am grateful to my right hon. Friend for giving way, but he will be aware that the position of the ...
Nick Clegg | 515 c43 (Link to this contribution) No, we are not thinking of that—at least not at present. If my hon. Friend reads the documentation p...
Nick Clegg | 515 c44 (Link to this contribution) I would now like to draw my comments to a close to allow others to have their say. The reforms that...
Nick Clegg | 515 c44 (Link to this contribution) Those remarks seem to suggest that in addition to the votes they will be casting in any event in loc...
Jack Straw | 515 c44-5 (Link to this contribution) I beg to move an amendment, to leave out from ““That”” to the end of the Question and add:"““this Ho...
Peter Bone | 515 c43 (Link to this contribution) I thought the coalition Government were opposed to programme motions and to reducing the time for sc...
Nick Clegg | 515 c43 (Link to this contribution) Those timings have been agreed with the Opposition. I give way on that point.
Angus Brendan MacNeil | 515 c44 (Link to this contribution) On the date, with the benefit of hindsight does the Deputy Prime Minister think that he has blown th...
Nick Clegg | 515 c44 (Link to this contribution) The programme motion simply states that there will be five full days of debate on the Floor of the H...
Douglas Carswell | 515 c41 (Link to this contribution) If we are to have a referendum on electoral reform, why do we propose including only one alternative...
Nick Clegg | 515 c41 (Link to this contribution) I accept that, on paper, a multiple-choice referendum is an attractive suggestion. For the sake of s...
Nick Clegg | 515 c42 (Link to this contribution) May I explain the issue first, and then give way? About 84% of the United Kingdom's electorate will...
Nick Clegg | 515 c41-2 (Link to this contribution) That argument will, of course, take place during the referendum campaign, but my hon. Friend is righ...
Gordon Birtwistle | 515 c41 (Link to this contribution) As my right hon. Friend knows, I am a new Member. When I arrived, I was surprised to learn that we a...
Nick Clegg | 515 c41 (Link to this contribution) I shall make a little progress, if I may. There are members of the Government who hold contrasting ...
Nick Clegg | 515 c42 (Link to this contribution) That may well be a case for the alternative vote, but we should focus today on providing the British...
Julian Huppert | 515 c42 (Link to this contribution) Is my right hon. Friend aware that only one in three Members received more than half the votes cast?...
John Baron | 515 c42 (Link to this contribution) My right hon. Friend is right to talk about trust in politics, but one of the problems with the alte...
Caroline Flint | 515 c39 (Link to this contribution) I thank the right hon. Gentleman for giving way, but why has he settled on a figure that is differen...
Nick Clegg | 515 c39 (Link to this contribution) I want to make some progress so that others can have their say later. Some hon. Members from Scotla...
Nick Clegg | 515 c39 (Link to this contribution) We settled on 600 MPs, a relatively modest cut in House numbers of just less than 8%, because it sav...
Nick Clegg | 515 c40 (Link to this contribution) I agree that the change should stand the test of time. That is why the Electoral Commission, with ou...
Greg Hands | 515 c40 (Link to this contribution) Does the Deputy Prime Minister share my consternation that, for the first time in 50 years, under th...
Nick Clegg | 515 c40 (Link to this contribution) I will make a little more progress. The commissions will continue to use the electoral register as ...
Denis MacShane | 515 c41 (Link to this contribution) Will the Deputy Prime Minister clarify one technical point? Do the Government propose a compulsory a...
Nick Clegg | 515 c40 (Link to this contribution) It is a distinguishing feature of this debate, and previous debates, that Labour Members are now ver...
Nick Clegg | 515 c41 (Link to this contribution) In the Bill, as the right hon. Gentleman will see, we propose an optional preferential alternative v...
Speaker | 515 c34 (Link to this contribution) I have selected the amendment in the name of the Leader of the Opposition.
Brian H Donohoe | 515 c34 (Link to this contribution) Will the right hon. Gentleman give way?
Nick Clegg | 515 c34 (Link to this contribution) I beg to move, That the Bill be now read a Second time. Before turning to the Bill, I am aware that...
Kevin Brennan | 515 c35 (Link to this contribution) The Deputy Prime Minister mentioned that the Bill is before us today because of the deal between his...
Nick Clegg | 515 c35 (Link to this contribution) They are simply two issues that relate to how we are elected to this House, and therefore it is natu...
Daniel Kawczynski | 515 c35-6 (Link to this contribution) Will my right hon. Friend acknowledge the all-party group for the promotion of first past the post, ...
Nick Clegg | 515 c36 (Link to this contribution) Of course I would be delighted to meet my hon. Friend's group. Whether we will have a meeting of min...
Brian H Donohoe | 515 c35 (Link to this contribution) Will the Deputy Prime Minister answer a simple question? Does he see any party-political advantage i...
Nick Clegg | 515 c35 (Link to this contribution) It is impossible to predict what effect a new electoral system will have—[Interruption.] Well, many ...
William Cash | 515 c35 (Link to this contribution) The Deputy Prime Minister refers to the question of the most fundamental matters of our democracy. D...
Nick Clegg | 515 c35 (Link to this contribution) As my hon. Friend knows, this Bill is the product of an agreement between the two parties in the coa...
Baroness Stuart of Edgbaston | 515 c36 (Link to this contribution) The Deputy Prime Minister stresses greatly the need for constituencies of the same size, as it is a ...
Nick Clegg | 515 c37 (Link to this contribution) I am not sure that I entirely understand the connection, but as my hon. Friend may well know, around...
Emily Thornberry | 515 c37 (Link to this contribution) I wonder whether the right hon. Gentleman could enlighten us. Is Mrs Clegg aware that under the curr...
Nick Clegg | 515 c37 (Link to this contribution) She is aware of that, and I will remind her today. Finally, the legislation underpinning reviews me...
Nick Clegg | 515 c38 (Link to this contribution) I am aware of the popularity of the current Member for the Isle of Wight, and he will know better th...
David Davis | 515 c38 (Link to this contribution) I thank my right hon. Friend for giving way, but even those who are on side in respect of what he is...
Nick Clegg | 515 c37-8 (Link to this contribution) If I could make a little bit of headway, I will of course give way. This is an important Bill and ma...
Andrew Turner | 515 c38 (Link to this contribution) Does the right hon. Member accept that people living in the Isle of Wight are perfectly content with...
Nick Clegg | 515 c36 (Link to this contribution) As I will describe shortly, the number that we anticipate being the guidance for the boundary commis...
Nick Clegg | 515 c36-7 (Link to this contribution) I will just make a little more headway. Equally problematic is the cumbersome process by which boun...
Nick Clegg | 515 c39 (Link to this contribution) I give way to the right hon. Lady.
Clive Betts | 515 c39 (Link to this contribution) Does he accept that in the past—
Speaker | 515 c39 (Link to this contribution) Order. It is helpful if the Deputy Prime Minister indicates clearly to whom he is giving way.
Speaker | 515 c38 (Link to this contribution) Order. I apologise for interrupting the Deputy Prime Minister. Let me assure him and the House that ...
Nick Clegg | 515 c38-9 (Link to this contribution) Aside from these improvements, the arrangements for drawing the boundaries will remain untouched. Fo...
Andrew Selous | 515 c125 (Link to this contribution) I am extremely grateful. Can my hon. Friend reassure me that town and parish councils, whose electio...
Jeremy Browne | 515 c122 (Link to this contribution) I have 84,000 constituents. How many does the right hon. Gentleman have?
Lord Hain | 515 c122-4 (Link to this contribution) I have just under 60,000, although my constituency is different. I would be happy to see more consti...
Stephen Pound | 515 c129 (Link to this contribution) Let us leave the Isle of Wight and turn to the island of Ireland. In view of what the Minister has j...
Mark Harper | 515 c125-6 (Link to this contribution) I can confirm that our combination amendment will ensure that parish elections can take place on the...
Mark Harper | 515 c126-7 (Link to this contribution) I hope that my hon. Friend will forgive me if I do not. I have a great deal to do, and not much time...
George Eustice | 515 c113 (Link to this contribution) My hon. Friend raises an interesting point. I personally favour the system that we have; it has stoo...
Andrea Leadsom | 515 c115-6 (Link to this contribution) Having sat here for rather a long time, I am pleased to have had the benefit of hearing the many wis...
Alan Reid | 515 c118 (Link to this contribution) The hon. Gentleman is wrong. He should read the analysis of the hon. Member for Aberdeen North (Mr D...
Michael McCann | 515 c117-8 (Link to this contribution) We are happy to resolve that problem. All the Government need to do is decouple the measures. We wil...
Michael McCann | 515 c118 (Link to this contribution) That was an opportune intervention, because I was about to cover that point. We cannot base the new ...
John Robertson | 515 c75 (Link to this contribution) It is a pleasure to follow the hon. Member for Isle of Wight (Mr Turner), who made good sense; he ma...
Stephen Williams | 515 c71 (Link to this contribution) Will the right hon. Gentleman give way?
Jack Straw | 515 c51 (Link to this contribution) If the hon. Gentleman will excuse me, no. In contrast, Margaret Thatcher's 1986 system recognised t...
Jack Straw | 515 c53 (Link to this contribution) I am about to close. In his excellent blog on the ConservativeHome website, the hon. Member for Cit...
David Hamilton | 515 c39-40 (Link to this contribution) Many in the House believe that geographical layout is as important as numerical. As cohesion is impo...
Nick Clegg | 515 c34 (Link to this contribution) If I could make a little headway, I will of course give way. The coalition has agreed a full, five-...
Nick Clegg | 515 c39 (Link to this contribution) I said I was giving way to the right hon. Lady. Is the hon. Member for Sheffield South East (Mr Bett...
Mark Harper | 515 c125 (Link to this contribution) I will take one brief intervention from my hon. Friend.
Ian Murray | 515 c120-1 (Link to this contribution) I am grateful for the opportunity to take part in this debate, and I will be brief in order to keep ...
Ian Murray | 515 c121 (Link to this contribution) I would, but I am afraid that I do not have time to do so. The electoral registration figures in De...
Lord Hain | 515 c121-2 (Link to this contribution) After 36 excellent speeches, this debate has revealed serious objections, from all parts of the Hous...
Mark Harper | 515 c125 (Link to this contribution) We have had an excellent debate, with a high level of interest from colleagues across the House: 74 ...
Angus Brendan MacNeil | 515 c126 (Link to this contribution) If the Minister feels that we are underrating the public, does he not also feel that we should inclu...
Jack Straw | 515 c127 (Link to this contribution) The difference is that all of those had been subject to extensive pre-legislative scrutiny and were ...
Mark Harper | 515 c126 (Link to this contribution) I shall come to that later. A number of Members cited the merits of different electoral systems. As...
Jonathan Edwards | 515 c100-1 (Link to this contribution) I have three strong concerns about the Bill: the date of the referendum vote; the fact that there is...
Stuart Bell | 515 c97-8 (Link to this contribution) Yes, I do. That is why Labour Members support a referendum on the alternative vote. What we do not s...
Mark Field | 515 c47 (Link to this contribution) I entirely stand by those words. I believe that is one of the problems with what is being proposed. ...
Nick Clegg | 515 c42 (Link to this contribution) My recollection is that there were plenty of leaflets around from Conservatives saying ““Do not vote...
Edward Leigh | 515 c37 (Link to this contribution) I am sure that it is right that constituencies should be broadly the same size, and it may be right ...
Nick Clegg | 515 c38 (Link to this contribution) As the right hon. Member will know, anyone can seek judicial review in normal practice, but on the c...
Mark Harper | 515 c127-9 (Link to this contribution) The right hon. Gentleman has just demonstrated that on this issue the Opposition have put opportunis...

Subjects

Boundary commissions
Constituency size
Constituencies
Alternative vote
Costs
House of Commons
Electoral register
General elections
Judicial review
Fixed-term parliaments
Members
Referendums
Public inquiries
Voting methods
Reform

Legislation

Parliamentary Voting System and Constituencies Bill 2010-12

Link

View this Parliamentary proceeding on www.publications.parliament.uk
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