UK Parliament / Open data

Parliamentary Voting System and Constituencies Bill

Debate on bills and Committee of the Whole House (HC) on Monday, 18 October 2010, in the House of Commons.
Parliamentary Voting System and Constituencies Bill. Committee stage second day. Clauses 2, 3, 6 agreed to. Clauses 4 and 5 agreed to as amended. Schedules 1 to 5 agreed to as amended.

About these Parliamentary proceedings

Reference

516 c641-767 

Session

2010-12

Department

Cabinet Office

Legislative stage

Committee stage

Chamber / Committee

House of Commons chamber

Related items

Parliamentary Voting System and Constituencies Bill. Explanatory notes also published (Bill 63-EN).
Thursday, 22 July 2010
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House of Commons
Parliamentary Voting System and Constituencies Bill. Political and Constitutional Reform Select Committee third report in 2 volumes with formal minutes, evidence and appendices.
Monday, 11 October 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

Mark Harper | 516 c647 (Link to this contribution) The hon. Gentleman is trying to draw me into doing the chief counting officer's job for her and into...
Chris Bryant | 516 c647 (Link to this contribution) But if—let us say for the sake of argument—no polling cards were issued for the referendum in an are...

Show all contributions (320)
Mark Harper | 516 c647-8 (Link to this contribution) I am sure that their lordships do not require help from me or the chief counting officer to delibera...
Thomas Docherty | 516 c647 (Link to this contribution) Perhaps it might help the House of Lords when it considers the Bill if the Parliamentary Secretary a...
Thomas Docherty | 516 c646 (Link to this contribution) Particularly after the events of last May, I welcome the provisions relating to electoral returning ...
Chris Bryant | 516 c646 (Link to this contribution) I still do not quite understand what counts as counting officers not having performed their function...
Mark Harper | 516 c646 (Link to this contribution) The level of payment would be a matter for the chief counting officer to determine; we would not exp...
Robert Syms | 516 c646 (Link to this contribution) Is there any provision for a recount if the poll is very, very close? There have been several incide...
Mark Harper | 516 c646 (Link to this contribution) My hon. Friend will have noted that we are going to debate recounts under amendments 153 and 154 to ...
Chris Bryant | 516 c651-2 (Link to this contribution) My hon. Friend makes a good point. My anxiety is that the route down which we are travelling will me...
Thomas Docherty | 516 c651 (Link to this contribution) It might help the Committee to know that, certainly for Scotland, returning officers will allow reco...
Chris Bryant | 516 c650 (Link to this contribution) I have said that I will vote for the alternative vote, and I will vote for it. I personally support ...
Chris Bryant | 516 c650 (Link to this contribution) Could the hon. Gentleman just keep calm for a moment? I recognise that many other people in my party...
Nick Boles | 516 c650 (Link to this contribution) I apologise for taxing the hon. Gentleman on this point, but I think he is muddling up a separate is...
Chair of Committees of the Whole House | 516 c651 (Link to this contribution) Order. I was generous in allowing such a long intervention, but the hon. Gentleman has gone on far t...
Chris Bryant | 516 c651 (Link to this contribution) Well, I was going to make an attempt at an answer, but I do not know whether it will appease the hon...
Nick Boles | 516 c650 (Link to this contribution) I misspoke. I meant that the person who tabled amendment 353—the hon. Gentleman's party leader—has s...
Nick Boles | 516 c650 (Link to this contribution) The hon. Gentleman's suggestion seems extraordinary. I had understood that the Labour party's positi...
Mark Harper | 516 c649 (Link to this contribution) Will the hon. Gentleman give way?
Chris Bryant | 516 c649 (Link to this contribution) If I may finish my argument, I will then give way to the Minister. In Wales, the results will be by...
Chris Bryant | 516 c648-9 (Link to this contribution) Broadly speaking, I do not disagree with the main thrust of the amendments that the Parliamentary Se...
Mark Harper | 516 c649 (Link to this contribution) If the hon. Gentleman is going to quote the Electoral Commission, he should quote it in full. It wan...
Chris Bryant | 516 c649-50 (Link to this contribution) I am grateful for the Minister's helpful intervention, because he made half the point I made myself....
Nick Boles | 516 c649 (Link to this contribution) Will the hon. Gentleman give way?
Chris Bryant | 516 c649 (Link to this contribution) In a moment, although I have promised to give way to the Minister. I am not sure which way age and b...
Mark Harper | 516 c644 (Link to this contribution) Not at all. We will table the combination amendments today, and as the hon. Gentleman acknowledged, ...
Chris Bryant | 516 c643-4 (Link to this contribution) That rather prejudges another set of amendments. I do not know whether the hon. Gentleman has yet ta...
Mark Harper | 516 c643 (Link to this contribution) The costs specifically required to run the referendum are picked up by the Consolidated Fund and do ...
Thomas Docherty | 516 c643 (Link to this contribution) To clarify, Tom Aitchison, who is the interim chief returning officer for Scotland, wrote to my hon....
Mark Harper | 516 c644-5 (Link to this contribution) If I may say so, I think that the hon. Gentleman is trying to make debating points where there simpl...
Chris Bryant | 516 c644 (Link to this contribution) But the Minister has not even made any provision in law. He has not presented to the House the provi...
Mark Harper | 516 c644 (Link to this contribution) Mr Hoyle, I am sure that you do not want me to start debating new clauses and new schedules today wh...
Chris Bryant | 516 c644 (Link to this contribution) I am sorry, but the Minister is completely wrong. He may have already decided how Parliament, in thi...
Mark Harper | 516 c645-6 (Link to this contribution) That is a very helpful intervention, because my hon. Friend will know that in the programme motion t...
William Cash | 516 c645 (Link to this contribution) Will my hon. Friend be good enough to give me an assurance on an important question relating to thre...
Mark Harper | 516 c643 (Link to this contribution) We have listened to what returning officers and electoral administrators have said, to ensure that t...
Mark Harper | 516 c643 (Link to this contribution) We will talk about the franchise in due course. I do not think that the point is terribly sensible. ...
Thomas Docherty | 516 c643 (Link to this contribution) I seek clarification, further to the debate last week. Although I welcome the Government's U-turn to...
Mark Harper | 516 c642 (Link to this contribution) I am not entirely certain how the number of voters who can vote there has anything to do with the ap...
Chris Bryant | 516 c642 (Link to this contribution) It relates to the point that we will doubtless discuss later in relation to who is entitled to vote....
Mark Harper | 516 c642 (Link to this contribution) The Government have tabled a number of amendments relating to the referendum that are necessary to a...
Mark Harper | 516 c641 (Link to this contribution) I beg to move amendment 261, page 14, line 8, at end insert—
Chair of Committees of the Whole House | 516 c641-2 (Link to this contribution) With this it will be convenient to discuss the following:
Mark Harper | 516 c679-80 (Link to this contribution) There are three amendments in the group, which seek to clarify the role of the Electoral Commission ...
John Redwood | 516 c679 (Link to this contribution) I am grateful for that intervention, from which I learned that the no campaign would like one of the...
Mark Harper | 516 c680 (Link to this contribution) If the right hon. Gentleman would allow me to make further progress in my response to what I thought...
Lord Dodds of Duncairn | 516 c680 (Link to this contribution) Does the provision in the Government amendment to"““take whatever steps they think appropriate to pr...
Mark Harper | 516 c680-2 (Link to this contribution) If my hon. Friend would wait until I have developed my remarks further, he might be a little happier...
Bernard Jenkin | 516 c680 (Link to this contribution) My hon. Friend is making a very strong argument for the Electoral Commission not to put out any info...
Mark Harper | 516 c682 (Link to this contribution) I will give a brief answer, as Mr Gale will tell me off if I stray too far from the amendments and w...
Bernard Jenkin | 516 c682 (Link to this contribution) Can we therefore put my hon. Friend's neutrality to the test? Is it true that under the alternative ...
Mark Harper | 516 c684 (Link to this contribution) Just in case the hon. Gentleman is unaware, four former politicians were appointed to the Electoral ...
Chris Bryant | 516 c682-4 (Link to this contribution) This has been an interesting discussion. In a sense, at the back of this debate lies the fact that t...
Louise Mensch | 516 c675-6 (Link to this contribution) The hon. Gentleman makes an excellent point. Does he agree that an ancillary danger of the amendment...
John Redwood | 516 c676-7 (Link to this contribution) If we have a body such as the Electoral Commission which needs to be impartial, it is most important...
Mark Durkan | 516 c676 (Link to this contribution) No, because I shall sit down soon and the hon. Gentleman can make his own contribution then. We hav...
George Eustice | 516 c676 (Link to this contribution) Will the hon. Gentleman give way?
Mark Durkan | 516 c676 (Link to this contribution) Yes, that is precisely what could happen, and if the controversy and disagreement on the wording all...
John Redwood | 516 c678-9 (Link to this contribution) My hon. Friend makes an important point. A powerful point for the no case in the referendum—the case...
Simon Hart | 516 c678 (Link to this contribution) I would like to bring to my right hon. Friend's attention a particular difficulty in Wales that may ...
John Redwood | 516 c677-8 (Link to this contribution) I agree, and the conclusion is just that: the Electoral Commission should not put out information be...
Bernard Jenkin | 516 c677 (Link to this contribution) Let me apprise my right hon. Friend of an example of just such a problem. I have seen the Electoral ...
George Eustice | 516 c679 (Link to this contribution) I want to pick up on the point about impartiality. Does my right hon. Friend agree that the best way...
Andrew Turner | 516 c691 (Link to this contribution) Will my hon. Friend explain what rules would apply to a British citizen—a British subject, indeed—in...
Lord Brady of Altrincham | 516 c690-1 (Link to this contribution) It is a pleasure to rise to speak briefly to amendments 59, 60 and 61, which stand in my name and th...
Chair of Committees of the Whole House | 516 c690 (Link to this contribution) With this it will be convenient to discuss the following:
Lord Brady of Altrincham | 516 c689 (Link to this contribution) I beg to move amendment 59, page 2, line 9, after 'constituency', insert
Chair of Committees of the Whole House | 516 c685 (Link to this contribution) I ask the Serjeant at Arms to investigate the delay in the Aye Lobby.
Chris Bryant | 516 c684-5 (Link to this contribution) I am aware that those people were appointed because I was in the Chamber when the Whip with the bill...
Lord Brady of Altrincham | 516 c692 (Link to this contribution) My hon. Friend is absolutely right. If I am not mistaken, his wife is American. In the United States...
Henry Smith | 516 c692 (Link to this contribution) Is it not remarkable that this country is almost unique in the world in allowing such a large number...
Angus Brendan MacNeil | 516 c654 (Link to this contribution) The intervention from the Opposition Front Bench has only added to my confusion. Does the amendment ...
Mark Harper | 516 c654 (Link to this contribution) Again, I think that the hon. Gentleman is quite right. The Government propose to have the counting d...
Alun Michael | 516 c655 (Link to this contribution) I beg to move amendment 328, page 15, line 35, leave out 'may' and insert 'must'.
Chair of Committees of the Whole House | 516 c655-6 (Link to this contribution) With this it will be convenient to take the following:
Alun Michael | 516 c656-7 (Link to this contribution) I am grateful for the opportunity to speak to this group of amendments. I am particularly pleased th...
Chris Bryant | 516 c657 (Link to this contribution) My right hon. Friend is making some very good points, and I hope I will be able to explain why I agr...
Alun Michael | 516 c657-9 (Link to this contribution) My hon. Friend makes a very good point. That is precisely the sort of issue that I believe should be...
Luciana Berger | 516 c659-61 (Link to this contribution) I should like to speak to amendments 333 to 340, which aim to correct a serious deficit in our democ...
Chris Bryant | 516 c654 (Link to this contribution) For the sake of clarity, we are not saying that the count needs to be done by those constituencies; ...
Mark Harper | 516 c654 (Link to this contribution) Fortunately, neither I nor my hon. Friends were responsible for that legislation. It was introduced ...
Mark Harper | 516 c654 (Link to this contribution) The hon. Gentleman makes a very good point. Fortunately, I am not responsible for the drafting of am...
Mark Harper | 516 c653 (Link to this contribution) The combination amendment will provide for the combination of all the elections taking place next ye...
Chris Bryant | 516 c652 (Link to this contribution) In which case, again, the hon. Gentleman ought to be striking out large parts of the Bill, because t...
Mark Harper | 516 c652-3 (Link to this contribution) There are one or two points of fact that are worth putting straight. My hon. Friend the Member for G...
Mark Harper | 516 c653 (Link to this contribution) Like the hon. Gentleman, I am very keen that on matters to do with elections this House should get t...
Angus Brendan MacNeil | 516 c653 (Link to this contribution) I am looking at amendment 353, but it is not clear precisely which ““parliamentary constituency”” is...
Chris Bryant | 516 c653 (Link to this contribution) Of course I fully understand that: amendments cannot be tabled if they depend on legislation that do...
Nick Boles | 516 c652 (Link to this contribution) Is this not a classic example of over-micro-management of professionals? We have a chief counting of...
Naomi Long | 516 c675 (Link to this contribution) Does the hon. Gentleman agree that the point of allowing the Electoral Commission to issue informati...
Mark Durkan | 516 c675 (Link to this contribution) The hon. Lady is right. That has certainly been the experience in the south of Ireland, where the Re...
Bernard Jenkin | 516 c674 (Link to this contribution) The effect of my amendment is clear. It states:"““The Electoral Commission shall not issue any expla...
Mark Durkan | 516 c674-5 (Link to this contribution) We are being told that no explanatory documents will be issued unless they have been approved by bot...
Bernard Jenkin | 516 c675 (Link to this contribution) The yes and no campaigns will receive considerable public funds and will have a free mailshot. Each ...
Mark Durkan | 516 c675 (Link to this contribution) I will give the example of referendums conducted in the south of Ireland. There the Referendum Commi...
Bernard Jenkin | 516 c671 (Link to this contribution) Does the hon. Gentleman know which of those members might vote yes in the referendum and which might...
Chris Bryant | 516 c671-2 (Link to this contribution) No, I have not got the faintest idea. I just know that two or even three of them are definite noes. ...
Bernard Jenkin | 516 c672-4 (Link to this contribution) Amendment 247 is in my name and of several colleagues, including the hon. Member for Middlesbrough (...
Mark Durkan | 516 c674 (Link to this contribution) I have reservations about amendment 136. I fully understand the spirit in which the hon. Member for ...
Chris Bryant | 516 c671 (Link to this contribution) The amendment deals with the simple issue of the role of the Electoral Commission in relation to the...
Chris Bryant | 516 c670 (Link to this contribution) I beg to move amendment 136, page 17, line 5, at end insert
Chair of Committees of the Whole House | 516 c671 (Link to this contribution) With this it will be convenient to discuss the following:
Chris Bryant | 516 c665 (Link to this contribution) I am sorry, but that is more soft soap. I fully understand the Minister's good intentions—he has adv...
Alun Michael | 516 c665-6 (Link to this contribution) I am grateful to the Minister, who has been extremely courteous this afternoon. His speech was clear...
Chris Bryant | 516 c663-4 (Link to this contribution) I warmly congratulate my right hon. Friend the Member for Cardiff South and Penarth (Alun Michael) a...
Mark Harper | 516 c664-5 (Link to this contribution) I have considered the amendments carefully, partly because of the role that I held before we entered...
Alun Michael | 516 c661 (Link to this contribution) Will the Minister comment on the central point of the change from ““may”” to ““must””?
Mark Harper | 516 c661-3 (Link to this contribution) If the right hon. Gentleman will allow me, I shall first set out what the Electoral Commission has s...
Mark Harper | 516 c661 (Link to this contribution) I welcome the principles behind the amendments tabled by the right hon. Member for Cardiff South and...
Angus Brendan MacNeil | 516 c694 (Link to this contribution) A particular instance might be the case of an individual who has never lived in the Irish Republic b...
Lord Brady of Altrincham | 516 c694 (Link to this contribution) I think I am grateful to the hon. Gentleman for that intervention. I think that for the purposes of ...
Chris Bryant | 516 c694 (Link to this contribution) I am grateful to the hon. Gentleman, who is being very generous, for giving way. May I clarify somet...
Lord Brady of Altrincham | 516 c694 (Link to this contribution) I hope that the hon. Gentleman will recognise that I tabled amendment 60 in a spirit of compromise w...
Angus Brendan MacNeil | 516 c694 (Link to this contribution) I am reading the hon. Gentleman's amendments with interest. I note that Republic of Ireland citizens...
Lord Brady of Altrincham | 516 c694 (Link to this contribution) As my hon. Friend says, the Minister is a good man. He said as recently as 6 September, in the windi...
Lord Brady of Altrincham | 516 c694-5 (Link to this contribution) Absolutely. Like Lord Goldsmith in the document that I have quoted, I think we should move towards a...
Lord Brady of Altrincham | 516 c695 (Link to this contribution) I think I should give way to Northern Ireland.
Lord Dodds of Duncairn | 516 c695 (Link to this contribution) I thank the hon. Gentleman for giving way to Northern Ireland, but I do not claim entirely to repres...
Mark Williams | 516 c696 (Link to this contribution) The Liberal Democrats share the hon. Lady's passion for reducing the voting age, but does not her am...
Natascha Engel | 516 c696 (Link to this contribution) I think that falls outside the scope of the amendment. It is important to establish that we are argu...
Mark Field | 516 c696 (Link to this contribution) Surely the logic of the hon. Lady's position is to say that everyone who was born before 6 May 1997 ...
Natascha Engel | 516 c696 (Link to this contribution) I was coming to that; that was my joke. [Interruption.] All right, I will say it again in a moment. ...
Natascha Engel | 516 c695 (Link to this contribution) I rise to speak to amendment 332, which is in my name. The amendment would have the effect of loweri...
Lord Brady of Altrincham | 516 c695 (Link to this contribution) I think the amendment as it stands would do that. I am entirely open to the right hon. Gentleman's p...
Natascha Engel | 516 c696 (Link to this contribution) I would love the opportunity to table an amendment for, and to debate something much broader on, low...
Angus Brendan MacNeil | 516 c697 (Link to this contribution) Does the hon. Lady agree that if we can send 16-year-olds into our armed services and demand that th...
Natascha Engel | 516 c697 (Link to this contribution) Oh no! I am a great fan of private Members' Bills, and I do not want to do them down, but this Bill,...
Natascha Engel | 516 c697 (Link to this contribution) I shall indeed, and I thank my hon. Friend for urging me to push the amendment to a vote. I shall se...
Kerry McCarthy | 516 c697 (Link to this contribution) It is obvious that there is a certain degree of wriggling on the Liberal Democrat Benches as they tr...
Natascha Engel | 516 c697-8 (Link to this contribution) I hope so too, and I hope to see the hon. Gentleman there as well. I would be delighted if as many p...
Charles Walker | 516 c697 (Link to this contribution) The hon. Lady will know that the Liberal Democrat Benches are full of independent-minded people and ...
Chair of Committees of the Whole House | 516 c698 (Link to this contribution) Order. I should like to curtail interventions to intervention length.
Angus Brendan MacNeil | 516 c698 (Link to this contribution) The hon. Member for Broxbourne (Mr Walker) may have been taunting the Liberal Democrats to stick to ...
Mark Harper | 516 c698 (Link to this contribution) If the Government get their way, the referendum will take place on 5 May 2011, so based on the logic...
Natascha Engel | 516 c699 (Link to this contribution) I should have been more particular about that point, and I apologise. My argument was that 16-year-o...
Mark Harper | 516 c698 (Link to this contribution) I shall limit myself to this point, or we shall be in danger of not moving on, but I want to nail it...
Natascha Engel | 516 c698 (Link to this contribution) That is absolutely spot-on. I thank my hon. Friend for that intervention.
Mark Durkan | 516 c698 (Link to this contribution) Perhaps I can help my hon. Friend. Currently, registration details are taken from people who are 16 ...
Natascha Engel | 516 c699 (Link to this contribution) I thank my hon. Friend for that intervention.
Graham P Jones | 516 c699 (Link to this contribution) Does my hon. Friend agree that as well as the principled reasons why the age for taxation and for vo...
Sammy Wilson | 516 c699 (Link to this contribution) The hon. Lady has been generous in giving way.
Lord Brady of Altrincham | 516 c692 (Link to this contribution) I would not want to keep the Opposition spokesman waiting, as he appears to be pregnant with a very ...
Mark Field | 516 c692 (Link to this contribution) Does my hon. Friend accept that there is also a distinction to be drawn between voting in general el...
Lord Brady of Altrincham | 516 c693 (Link to this contribution) I am grateful to my hon. Friend, who has made the point brilliantly. The requirement that one should...
Chris Bryant | 516 c692 (Link to this contribution) The hon. Gentleman has started a theme running in my mind now. Please will he tell the hon. Member f...
Lord Brady of Altrincham | 516 c692 (Link to this contribution) Yes, we have reciprocal arrangements, although they are often not entirely symmetrical. For example,...
Lord Brady of Altrincham | 516 c693 (Link to this contribution) I have always found the hon. Gentleman to be commendably consistent. I hoped that that would be evid...
Chris Bryant | 516 c693 (Link to this contribution) Yes, I am pregnant again with this issue. The hon. Gentleman should not confuse the views of a forme...
Lord Brady of Altrincham | 516 c693 (Link to this contribution) I hope that the shadow Minister will now endorse the views of his predecessor in the previous Labour...
Charles Walker | 516 c693 (Link to this contribution) He is a good man, although he is a bit wayward on occasions.
Geoffrey Cox | 516 c712 (Link to this contribution) Is my hon. Friend seriously suggesting that if the country opts to change the voting system to the a...
Mark Harper | 516 c712 (Link to this contribution) Given our tradition of parliamentary sovereignty, my hon. Friend does not set out the position accur...
Geoffrey Cox | 516 c712 (Link to this contribution) Is not the point about the referendum that it will change the rules of the constitutional landscape ...
Charles Walker | 516 c710 (Link to this contribution) I know that the hon. Gentleman is making a heartfelt plea, and I quite like children—I have three of...
Graham P Jones | 516 c710 (Link to this contribution) I enjoyed that intervention. It is good to hear that young people are joining trade unions; Labour M...
Mark Harper | 516 c711 (Link to this contribution) Indeed. The amendments would amend clause 2, which sets out the franchise for voting in the referen...
Mark Harper | 516 c711 (Link to this contribution) Many issues have been raised and many amendments have been tabled. I shall try to deal with them bri...
Graham P Jones | 516 c710-1 (Link to this contribution) Given that the hon. Gentleman is now encouraging his constituents aged 17 and under to vote against ...
Chris Bryant | 516 c707 (Link to this contribution) That is quite interesting, because rather bizarrely I spent a lot of the general election in Spain, ...
Chris Bryant | 516 c707-8 (Link to this contribution) The hon. Gentleman is sitting next to the hon. Member for Altrincham and Sale West—a man who just de...
Angus Brendan MacNeil | 516 c708 (Link to this contribution) How close does the hon. Gentleman think that this referendum might be?
Lord Brady of Altrincham | 516 c707 (Link to this contribution) I am grateful to the hon. Gentleman for giving way, but I was not going to make that point. I have s...
Tom Blenkinsop | 516 c710 (Link to this contribution) I concur with my hon. Friend's words on this. As a former trade union official, I know of many 16-ye...
Chris Bryant | 516 c709 (Link to this contribution) I am hoping that it is some time distant yet. I hope that it will not be on 5 May, but so far we hav...
Graham P Jones | 516 c709 (Link to this contribution) I should like to speak to amendment 332, tabled by my hon. Friend the Member for North East Derbyshi...
Charles Walker | 516 c709 (Link to this contribution) I do not mean to disparage 16 and 17-year-olds, but most of them want to be on the Xbox, not putting...
Graham P Jones | 516 c709 (Link to this contribution) That is a very cynical and jaundiced view to take towards 16 and 17-year-olds. The hon. Gentleman wi...
Stephen Twigg | 516 c704-5 (Link to this contribution) We have not had the vote yet. How can I name our Liberal Democrat friends when we have not yet had t...
Chris Bryant | 516 c705 (Link to this contribution) I congratulate my hon. Friend the Member for North East Derbyshire (Natascha Engel) on providing us ...
Stephen Twigg | 516 c704 (Link to this contribution) I thank my hon. Friend for making an important additional point in support of the proposal. I encou...
Chris Bryant | 516 c707 (Link to this contribution) The hon. Gentleman may be about to raise the issue of whether the relationship should be directly co...
Lord Brady of Altrincham | 516 c706 (Link to this contribution) The shadow Minister may be disturbed, and I apologise for that, but, first, those Commonwealth bonds...
Chris Bryant | 516 c705-6 (Link to this contribution) I am not over-egging it. Remarkably few people have migrated to my constituency of the Rhondda over ...
Richard Shepherd | 516 c702 (Link to this contribution) I do not want to engage in an exchange across the Chamber of the kind that we have just had. I respe...
Angus Brendan MacNeil | 516 c702 (Link to this contribution) Is the hon. Gentleman saying that somebody who holds British citizenship because of their UK-subject...
Richard Shepherd | 516 c702 (Link to this contribution) I am using common terms, and I hope the hon. Gentleman will forgive me for that. I understand Britis...
Sammy Wilson | 516 c702-3 (Link to this contribution) I understand what the hon. Gentleman is saying, and I totally agree with him. One of the prices for ...
Richard Shepherd | 516 c703 (Link to this contribution) In a sense, there are two parts to that. One is sentiment. Let me illustrate that the other way roun...
Stephen Twigg | 516 c703-4 (Link to this contribution) I shall contribute briefly in support of amendment 332 proposed by my hon. Friend the Member for Nor...
Mark Durkan | 516 c704 (Link to this contribution) A further consideration, certainly in the context of registration in Northern Ireland, is that anyon...
Sammy Wilson | 516 c699 (Link to this contribution) She probably will, because I am a bit confused about the argument for the amendment. It started off ...
Natascha Engel | 516 c700 (Link to this contribution) My hon. Friend makes a very good point. Since 2002, and the glorious days of the Labour Government, ...
Toby Perkins | 516 c700 (Link to this contribution) To expand on that point, a lot of young people's first contact with politics on a serious level come...
Natascha Engel | 516 c699-700 (Link to this contribution) I shall stop taking interventions now. The argument, which I shall now try to make without taking t...
Mark Tami | 516 c700 (Link to this contribution) My hon. Friend is right to say that the proposal offers a good way to test the water for 16-year-old...
Angus Brendan MacNeil | 516 c702 (Link to this contribution) I am listening with interest to the hon. Gentleman. I have already given an example to which there h...
Richard Shepherd | 516 c702 (Link to this contribution) As for those who have emigrated, and possibly even taken up Australian citizenship, I would say no. ...
Natascha Engel | 516 c700-1 (Link to this contribution) I thank my hon. Friend and neighbour for that intervention; he is absolutely right. By a happy coinc...
Richard Shepherd | 516 c701-2 (Link to this contribution) This is an important group of amendments, and I am grateful to my hon. Friend the Member for Altrinc...
Mark Harper | 516 c735-6 (Link to this contribution) These amendments make several modifications for the purpose of adding clarity to the forms and statu...
Mark Harper | 516 c737-8 (Link to this contribution) The point about mayoral referendums is that some may indeed be held. Where there are mayoral referen...
Chris Bryant | 516 c737 (Link to this contribution) Notwithstanding what I said earlier about technical and minor amendments, sometimes they are actuall...
Mark Harper | 516 c738 (Link to this contribution) Just to return to the other point, of course the rules talk about putting down an X, but it is usual...
Chris Bryant | 516 c738 (Link to this contribution) I was not aware that a smiley face was a signifier of assent, but I hope that that matches present p...
Mark Harper | 516 c735 (Link to this contribution) I beg to move amendment 268, page 28, line 2, at end insert—
Chris Bryant | 516 c740 (Link to this contribution) Unfortunately it was a Liberal who first said that England was the mother of all Parliaments, so I c...
Angus Brendan MacNeil | 516 c740-1 (Link to this contribution) Serious questions are often raised before elections, but that happens in this country, too. I do not...
Chris Bryant | 516 c740 (Link to this contribution) Some people have had doubts about some of the Venezuelan elections, and I am not sure that we want t...
Angus Brendan MacNeil | 516 c740 (Link to this contribution) I saw how what the amendment proposes can work in practice in Venezuela, where I was once asked to b...
Lord Dodds of Duncairn | 516 c741 (Link to this contribution) I should like clarification. I take it that the amendment applies to voting in the referendum, becau...
Chris Bryant | 516 c741 (Link to this contribution) Discussing the length of the queue would be a great British debate, but my view is that if there is ...
James Morris | 516 c741 (Link to this contribution) May I press the hon. Gentleman on the definition of presenting at a polling station? At what point w...
Chris Bryant | 516 c741 (Link to this contribution) Perhaps we should stick to elections in this country, rather than worry about Venezuela. The point i...
Chris Bryant | 516 c740 (Link to this contribution) My hon. Friend is absolutely right. It is true that some people vote some days before the election w...
Mark Tami | 516 c740 (Link to this contribution) Does my hon. Friend agree that this problem is made worse by a number of local authorities closing p...
Mark Harper | 516 c727 (Link to this contribution) I think that with the hon. Gentleman's first set of questions he seeks to re-argue the debate we had...
Mark Harper | 516 c727 (Link to this contribution) Last week during our first day in Committee, we had an extensive debate on the date of the referendu...
Chair of Committees of the Whole House | 516 c726 (Link to this contribution) With this it will be convenient to discuss Government amendments 170, 269, 271 to 273, 171 to 173, 1...
Chris Bryant | 516 c726-7 (Link to this contribution) I briefly note the Minister's point of information earlier. However, there are several amendments on...
Mark Harper | 516 c726 (Link to this contribution) The amendments make minor and technical drafting changes to the Bill. Amendments 267 and 269 change ...
Chris Bryant | 516 c727 (Link to this contribution) What has changed since the Bill was brought forward that has made the provision outdated?
Mark Harper | 516 c727 (Link to this contribution) I think it is more the case that we copied across to the Bill a lot of the existing rules. This is a...
Chris Bryant | 516 c727 (Link to this contribution) I beg to move amendment 354, page 27, line 37, at end insert—
Chris Bryant | 516 c730-1 (Link to this contribution) I shall not withdraw the amendment, because I do not accept the premise on which the Minister has ad...
Mark Harper | 516 c730 (Link to this contribution) It is clear that schools that are publicly funded and receive Government grants fall under these pro...
Chris Bryant | 516 c729 (Link to this contribution) The Minister hurried on there. Following discussions with the Department for Education, he says that...
Mark Harper | 516 c729 (Link to this contribution) I fear I may disappoint the hon. Gentleman. The amendments would compel independent schools to be us...
Jacob Rees-Mogg | 516 c729 (Link to this contribution) I am slightly puzzled as to why schools attached to religious establishments in Northern Ireland sho...
Chris Bryant | 516 c728-9 (Link to this contribution) The amendments are in my name and that of my right hon. Friend the Leader of Her Majesty's loyal Opp...
Chair of Committees of the Whole House | 516 c727-8 (Link to this contribution) With this it will be convenient to discuss the following:
William Cash | 516 c735 (Link to this contribution) On a point of order, Mr Evans. I do not know how the order of the amendments was decided, and I am s...
Richard Shepherd | 516 c714 (Link to this contribution) Of course, there is no money. The state of the register is as I reported in my speech. There are man...
Mark Harper | 516 c714 (Link to this contribution) I would say two things to my hon. Friend. First, money is provided to local authorities as part of t...
Natascha Engel | 516 c714 (Link to this contribution) I do not want to sound rude, but the Minister's general views on lowering the age are neither here n...
Mark Harper | 516 c714-5 (Link to this contribution) As I said in my intervention on the hon. Lady, she has not thought through her argument. She has tri...
Chris Bryant | 516 c715 (Link to this contribution) As far as I can see, the Minister's argument is that we should use the franchise used for parliament...
Chris Bryant | 516 c715 (Link to this contribution) Indeed. Nevertheless, what is the logic behind the Minister's argument for specifically exempting th...
Natascha Engel | 516 c716 (Link to this contribution) I want briefly to correct the Minister on that point. That was not the argument I was making; the on...
Mark Harper | 516 c715 (Link to this contribution) Let me deal with that point, and then I will finish off on the general point. Very simply, we consid...
Mark Harper | 516 c716 (Link to this contribution) But my point is that 14-year-olds on the day of the referendum will be 18 on the date of the next ge...
Lord Brady of Altrincham | 516 c716 (Link to this contribution) I am grateful to the Minister for giving way. He is being generous with his time, but he has not yet...
Natascha Engel | 516 c716-7 (Link to this contribution) I will be seeking your permission to press my amendment 332 to a vote when the time comes, Ms Primar...
Mark Harper | 516 c716 (Link to this contribution) I am grateful to my hon. Friend: I had indeed omitted to talk about his amendment 61, about overseas...
Chair of Committees of the Whole House | 516 c716 (Link to this contribution) Natascha Engel, do you wish to respond to the debate?
Mark Harper | 516 c726 (Link to this contribution) I beg to move amendment 267, page 26, line 5, leave out '16th' and insert '15th'.
Chair of Committees of the Whole House | 516 c726 (Link to this contribution) I am sure that the Minister knows that, strictly speaking, that is not a point of order. He has give...
Mark Harper | 516 c725-6 (Link to this contribution) On a point of order, Ms Primarolo. I gave a commitment on Second Reading that I and other Front Benc...
Lord Brady of Altrincham | 516 c717 (Link to this contribution) These issues—the size, extent and description of the franchise—are absolutely fundamental and of gra...
Lord Brady of Altrincham | 516 c713 (Link to this contribution) The only argument that my hon. Friend has advanced against changing the franchise for the referendum...
Mark Harper | 516 c713 (Link to this contribution) I did say that it was perfectly normal in other countries, but my hon. Friend knows that this countr...
Lord Brady of Altrincham | 516 c712 (Link to this contribution) The Minister is trying to be helpful, and I get the clear message that there may be more legislation...
Mark Harper | 516 c712-3 (Link to this contribution) I do not think that my hon. Friend would expect me to set out that position now. As I said, referrin...
Mark Harper | 516 c714 (Link to this contribution) I see that my hon. Friend is back in his place.
Mark Harper | 516 c713-4 (Link to this contribution) Fiji has been suspended from the Commonwealth, and the usual practice is that in such cases we do no...
Chris Bryant | 516 c713 (Link to this contribution) That is clear, and I am grateful to the Minister. Can he answer the question that I asked earlier ab...
Mark Harper | 516 c713 (Link to this contribution) I chose my words carefully and I said that I would think about it. There may be an opportunity in th...
Chris Bryant | 516 c713 (Link to this contribution) I hate to say it, but I agree with that last sentence. In offering solace to Conservative Back Bench...
Diane Abbott | 516 c744-5 (Link to this contribution) The hour is late, but I wish to put on the record how concerned people in Hackney were by the debacl...
Chris Bryant | 516 c745-6 (Link to this contribution) My hon. Friend the Member for Hackney North and Stoke Newington (Ms Abbott) has exposed the problem:...
Iain Stewart | 516 c750 (Link to this contribution) I beg to move amendment 153, page 48, line 29, leave out 'may' and insert 'must'.
Chair of Committees of the Whole House | 516 c750 (Link to this contribution) With this it will be convenient to discuss amendment 154, page 48, line 32, at end insert—
Iain Stewart | 516 c750 (Link to this contribution) My hon. Friend the Member for Epping Forest (Mrs Laing) and I have tabled the amendments to seek cla...
Chair of Committees of the Whole House | 516 c750 (Link to this contribution) Order. Will the Committee please settle down? I am finding it very difficult to hear Mr Stewart.
Diane Abbott | 516 c743 (Link to this contribution) The Parliamentary Secretary is in danger of understating the seriousness of the problem. My Hackney ...
Mark Harper | 516 c743-4 (Link to this contribution) I was not in any way underplaying the seriousness of the issue in those cases where these events hap...
Mark Durkan | 516 c744 (Link to this contribution) Does the Minister not accept that the problem is likely to be more acute in circumstances such as th...
Mark Harper | 516 c744 (Link to this contribution) The hon. Gentleman raises two separate issues. The latter problem is clearly one that I hope does no...
Mark Harper | 516 c742-3 (Link to this contribution) I had not finished my points, if the hon. Gentleman would allow me. I was not trying to underplay th...
Mark Harper | 516 c743 (Link to this contribution) I did not say that we would do nothing about the problem. I specifically said the opposite—that the ...
Mark Harper | 516 c743 (Link to this contribution) I will give way to the hon. Gentleman first.
Chris Bryant | 516 c743 (Link to this contribution) It would be all right for this argument to be advanced if it were not for the fact that the Governme...
Mark Harper | 516 c742 (Link to this contribution) I fear that I might disappoint the hon. Gentleman again. Clearly, some of the scenes on election nig...
Kelvin Hopkins | 516 c742 (Link to this contribution) I understand the Minister's argument, but in a very tight election, that situation in two or three m...
Chris Bryant | 516 c742 (Link to this contribution) The right hon. Gentleman makes an extremely good point, and I am glad that Ministers appear to be ta...
Philip Davies | 516 c754 (Link to this contribution) My hon. Friend is making a very compelling case, as usual. Does he not agree that this is an open an...
David Nuttall | 516 c753 (Link to this contribution) When one is considering whether a recount should be requested, one must take account not just of the...
William Cash | 516 c753-4 (Link to this contribution) I greatly admire my hon. Friend's perspicacity. He puts his finger on an important point—the context...
David Nuttall | 516 c752 (Link to this contribution) Is not the problem the fact that the Bill gives no guidance as to what matters should be in the mind...
William Cash | 516 c752-3 (Link to this contribution) I am grateful to my hon. Friend for that extremely intelligent and useful intervention, which demons...
William Cash | 516 c751 (Link to this contribution) I am intrigued by the proposals. The first of the two amendments—amendment 153—deals emphatically wi...
Chris Bryant | 516 c751 (Link to this contribution) May I correct a mis-impression that is often given by Conservatives about the Rhondda? It was not ac...
Iain Stewart | 516 c750-1 (Link to this contribution) Thank you, Mr Evans. There are adequate provisions in the Bill for a recount mechanism at individua...
William Cash | 516 c754 (Link to this contribution) Absolutely. My hon. Friend, with again the greatest perspicacity and accuracy, has put his finger on...
William Cash | 516 c754-5 (Link to this contribution) Given the seriousness of the situation that we face this evening, for example, it would be intolerab...
Philip Davies | 516 c754 (Link to this contribution) I obviously agree, but does my hon. Friend agree that his proposal would actually benefit counting o...
Christopher Chope | 516 c760 (Link to this contribution) On a point of order, Mr Evans. ... Yes, it does. Under the motion of the House, schedules 3 and 4, ...
Chair of Committees of the Whole House | 516 c760-1 (Link to this contribution) Does this relate directly to schedule 3, Mr Chope? ... Order. We are not starting a debate on this....
Baroness Laing of Elderslie | 516 c765 (Link to this contribution) On a point of order, Mr Evans. On clause 6, the Minister indicated to the Committee earlier that he ...
Mark Harper | 516 c767 (Link to this contribution) Further to that point of order, Mr Evans. If the hon. Member for Rhondda genuinely thought that this...
Chris Bryant | 516 c766-7 (Link to this contribution) Further to that point of order, Mr Evans. Several hon. Members have made the point this evening that...
Chair of Committees of the Whole House | 516 c767 (Link to this contribution) I have listened carefully to the several points of order that Members have made. What the Government...
David Davis | 516 c765-6 (Link to this contribution) Further to that point of order, Mr Evans. Two things arise from that point of order. First, it is no...
William Cash | 516 c766 (Link to this contribution) Further to that point of order, Mr Evans. I completely endorse what my right hon. Friend has just sa...
Chair of Committees of the Whole House | 516 c766 (Link to this contribution) Order. I intend to call Mr Chope, Mr Bryant and the Minister, and then that is it, and we will have ...
Christopher Chope | 516 c766 (Link to this contribution) Further to that point of order, Mr Evans. In discussing the programme motion on 12 October, the Parl...
Lord Brady of Altrincham | 516 c691-2 (Link to this contribution) Perhaps my hon. Friend can enlighten me on that. My assumption is that it is possible for such peopl...
Chris Bryant | 516 c653 (Link to this contribution) I am grateful; I had not noticed the written ministerial statement last week. Will the Minister clar...
Natascha Engel | 516 c697 (Link to this contribution) I have it on good authority that I should be very pessimistic about the Liberal Democrats joining us...
Natascha Engel | 516 c698 (Link to this contribution) I tabled the amendment because the campaign to lower the voting age to 16 is well established. The a...
Charles Walker | 516 c707 (Link to this contribution) I am trying to follow the Minister's argument. Is he saying that rugby league players from Papua New...
Chair of Committees of the Whole House | 516 c735 (Link to this contribution) With this it will be convenient to discuss the following: Government amendments 274 to 278, 281 to 3...
Chris Bryant | 516 c739 (Link to this contribution) I beg to move amendment 352, page 37, line 26, after 'contrary', insert
Chris Bryant | 516 c729 (Link to this contribution) I know personally only one public school in England and Wales that is attached to a monastery, which...
Iain Stewart | 516 c751 (Link to this contribution) I stand corrected. I was using Rhondda as shorthand, in view of the late hour, but that does not und...
Chair of Committees of the Whole House | 516 c767 (Link to this contribution) Order. It is getting very late and I suspect that Members will now wish to see the conclusion of our...
Mark Harper | 516 c646 (Link to this contribution) The hon. Gentleman asks separate questions. The chief counting officer will decide about the level o...
Nick Boles | 516 c651 (Link to this contribution) Parliaments, sorry—forgive me. In the other nations of the United Kingdom, it makes sense to use the...
Chris Bryant | 516 c650 (Link to this contribution) In which case, the hon. Gentleman should be voting against the Government's proposals, because their...
Chris Bryant | 516 c642 (Link to this contribution) Government amendment 261 refers, in paragraph 1A(2), to the counting officer for the City of London ...
Stephen Williams | 516 c697 (Link to this contribution) I think that the hon. Lady was one of the sponsors of my Bill in the previous Parliament to reduce t...
Natascha Engel | 516 c699 (Link to this contribution) Indeed. At 16, people are allowed to do many things over which they have no say. The argument I am t...
Mark Harper | 516 c712 (Link to this contribution) Of course it could. If the voting system were changed, the public might reconsider and want to chang...
Chris Bryant | 516 c706-7 (Link to this contribution) Of course I want to encourage people to take up British citizenship, but our legislation is shaped a...
Chair of Committees of the Whole House | 516 c735 (Link to this contribution) A statement was made by the Minister earlier about thresholds and I am sure that it will all become ...

Subjects

Access
Disability
Accountability
Alternative vote
Administration
Age
British nationality
Commonwealth
British nationals abroad
Fees and charges
Eligibility
Electoral Commission
Forms
General elections
Northern Ireland
Private education
Referendums
Polling stations
Scotland
Visual impairment
Voting methods
Schools
Young people
Reform
Wales
Voting rights
Returning officers

Legislation

Parliamentary Voting System and Constituencies Bill 2010-12

Link

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