Parliamentary Voting System and Constituencies Bill

Debate on bills on Monday, 1 November 2010, in the House of Commons.

Parliamentary Voting System and Constituencies Bill. Programme motion (No. 4) agreed to on division (320 votes to 241). Report stage first day. Amendments to clause 11 (Number and Distribution of Seats), clause 12 (Boundary Commission Proposals: Publicity and Consultation), debated and negatived on division. Amendments to clause 10 (Reports of the Boundary Commissions), agreed to. Bill to be further considered tomorrow.

About these Parliamentary proceedings

Reference

517 c647-738

Session

2010-12

Proceeding contributions

Lord Mann | 517 c684 (Link to this contribution) Further to that point of order, Mr Deputy Speaker— ... It is an incorrect ruling. ... I withdraw...

Speaker | 517 c684 (Link to this contribution) No, I have ruled on that. ... I think the Member will wish to withdraw that comment, for all our s...

Show all contributions (264)

David Heath | 517 c684-5 (Link to this contribution) This large group of amendments reflects a range of views about representation in the nations and the...

Ian Murray | 517 c685 (Link to this contribution) Had the Government allocated enough time for us to debate this topic this evening, the hon. Gentlema...

Speaker | 517 c685 (Link to this contribution) Order. That was a long intervention.

David Heath | 517 c685 (Link to this contribution) I simply do not understand this argument that having equal constituencies with a margin of plus or m...

David Heath | 517 c685-6 (Link to this contribution) Let me make some progress, as we have very little time. More fundamentally, it is the duty of each ...

David Heath | 517 c686-7 (Link to this contribution) I am most grateful, Mr Deputy Speaker. I am trying to cover quite a lot of ground for colleagues in ...

Baroness Laing of Elderslie | 517 c701 (Link to this contribution) I beg to move amendment 205, page 12, line 21, at end insert—

David Heath | 517 c686 (Link to this contribution) I have not got time to give way, I am afraid. I also want—[Interruption.] I also want to make it pl...

Speaker | 517 c686 (Link to this contribution) Order. The hon. Member has said he will give way a little later. Let us be a little more patient. Pe...

Russell Brown | 517 c704 (Link to this contribution) I cannot speak about Epping Forest or Brentwood and Ongar, but, when the boundaries changed in Scotl...

Baroness Laing of Elderslie | 517 c704 (Link to this contribution) I understand what the hon. Gentleman says, and I understand how strongly the people of Dumfries feel...

Speaker | 517 c701-2 (Link to this contribution) With this it will be convenient to discuss the following:

Baroness Laing of Elderslie | 517 c702-4 (Link to this contribution) I am glad that we are going to be able to debate all these amendments in this one debate. It is unfo...

Mark Tami | 517 c704 (Link to this contribution) The hon. Lady has made the point a number of times tonight about everything being of equal value and...

Baroness Laing of Elderslie | 517 c704 (Link to this contribution) I do not support them. The matters on which we have just voted were rather more complicated than tha...

Mark Tami | 517 c704 (Link to this contribution) So why did you vote for it?

Baroness Laing of Elderslie | 517 c705 (Link to this contribution) Thank you for your protection, Madam Deputy Speaker. Regardless of where the hon. Gentleman has been...

Baroness Laing of Elderslie | 517 c704 (Link to this contribution) The hon. Gentleman does not know how I voted—that is my business. [Interruption.] Well, I was not in...

Mark Tami | 517 c704 (Link to this contribution) I have been here all day.

Baroness Laing of Elderslie | 517 c705 (Link to this contribution) The hon. Gentleman has not been here throughout the five days of the Committee stage.

Mark Tami | 517 c705 (Link to this contribution) I have.

Baroness Laing of Elderslie | 517 c705 (Link to this contribution) I am much gratified by that. I would not have had any exceptions in the Bill; I think that the exce...

Mark Harper | 517 c705 (Link to this contribution) I do.

Huw Irranca-Davies | 517 c706 (Link to this contribution) I agree with the hon. Lady's Aristotelian logic. There is no need for wide public inquiries or force...

Baroness Laing of Elderslie | 517 c706 (Link to this contribution) The hon. Gentleman makes an excellent point with which I cannot disagree. It is the arithmetic that ...

Jim Fitzpatrick | 517 c705 (Link to this contribution) Does the hon. Lady support—I fully presume that she does—the building of the big society, as outline...

Baroness Laing of Elderslie | 517 c705-6 (Link to this contribution) The hon. Gentleman is, as ever, very clever in the way that he puts his point, but this has nothing ...

Baroness Laing of Elderslie | 517 c705 (Link to this contribution) I will not give way to the hon. Member for Alyn and Deeside (Mark Tami) again, but I give way to the...

Angus Brendan MacNeil | 517 c674 (Link to this contribution) The hon. Gentleman makes a good and interesting point in that it underlines the general population i...

Mark Durkan | 517 c673-4 (Link to this contribution) I want to speak to several amendments that I tabled in this group. Amendments 188, 193, 189 and 192 ...

Viscount Thurso | 517 c673 (Link to this contribution) I am receptive to the hon. Gentleman's argument. However, if he knew my constituency, he would know ...

Chris Bryant | 517 c673 (Link to this contribution) The hon. Gentleman is making a splendid case. Some of us believe that his constituency should be cal...

Viscount Thurso | 517 c673 (Link to this contribution) If the hon. Gentleman will let me first develop my argument, I will happily give way. We have heard...

Chris Bryant | 517 c673 (Link to this contribution) Will the hon. Gentleman give way?

Viscount Thurso | 517 c672-3 (Link to this contribution) The hon. Gentleman begins to make the precise point that I wish to develop, which is that this Bill ...

Viscount Thurso | 517 c672 (Link to this contribution) My hon. Friend makes a very full point, although I would not wish to engage with her directly becaus...

Michael McCann | 517 c672 (Link to this contribution) Some eminent historians have already participated in this debate, so I will go for some other quotat...

Sarah Newton | 517 c672 (Link to this contribution) Does my hon. Friend agree that by supporting the cross-party campaign to keep Cornwall whole, this P...

Mark Durkan | 517 c676 (Link to this contribution) Yes, it could have serious ramifications. I do not need to spell out the names of particular townlan...

Russell Brown | 517 c675-6 (Link to this contribution) My hon. Friend made a point about the people living on the periphery of a constituency chopping and ...

Mark Durkan | 517 c675 (Link to this contribution) I think I understand the point that the hon. Gentleman is trying to make. Personally, I am no fan of...

Mark Tami | 517 c676 (Link to this contribution) Can the hon. Gentleman foresee a situation in which a small town or village could move one way for o...

Mark Durkan | 517 c676 (Link to this contribution) I do not believe that it is good for democracy. Thankfully, Northern Ireland now has a more settled ...

Mark Durkan | 517 c674 (Link to this contribution) The hon. Gentleman spells out exactly the vista that is ahead of us with this Bill. Not only are the...

David Hamilton | 517 c674 (Link to this contribution) Does the hon. Gentleman not accept that there is no recognition that in 2005, Scotland moved from 72...

Mark Durkan | 517 c674-5 (Link to this contribution) The hon. Gentleman has spelled out exactly what lies ahead with this Bill. There is uncertainty over...

Kevin Brennan | 517 c675 (Link to this contribution) Does the hon. Gentleman agree that the Government's approach to this Bill, and the observations from...

Mark Durkan | 517 c677 (Link to this contribution) I thank my hon. Friend for that point. Like so many other hon. Members, he reinforces exactly the ki...

Kevin Brennan | 517 c677-8 (Link to this contribution) Does my hon. Friend agree that an unforeseen consequence of this electoral hokey cokey, with village...

Mark Durkan | 517 c677 (Link to this contribution) Again, my hon. and Celtic colleague has spoken with great sense. Hon. Members will regret what they ...

Dai Havard | 517 c677 (Link to this contribution) The uncertainty to which the hon. Gentleman alludes has particular resonance in Northern Ireland, an...

Mark Durkan | 517 c678 (Link to this contribution) I note the hon. Gentleman's point. I am not sure that the public would object to lots of local repre...

Angus Brendan MacNeil | 517 c677 (Link to this contribution) The crux of my hon. Friend's argument is the instability that will be caused by the five-yearly boun...

Mark Durkan | 517 c677;517 c676-7 (Link to this contribution) I totally agree with the right hon. Gentleman, who served with great distinction in Northern Ireland...

Lord Murphy of Torfaen | 517 c676 (Link to this contribution) I say to my hon. Friend the Member for Foyle (Mark Durkan) and my right hon. Friend the Member for B...

Mark Durkan | 517 c676 (Link to this contribution) The right hon. Gentleman is right to backlight exactly the sort of anomalies that will be created by...

Angela C Smith | 517 c679 (Link to this contribution) I remind the House that Cornwall, along with South Yorkshire, enjoyed—if that is the right word—obje...

Andrew George | 517 c679 (Link to this contribution) I agree. Of course we would like to have more than average representation, but we are not asking for...

Alan Whitehead | 517 c679 (Link to this contribution) Would the hon. Gentleman associate his remarks about Cornwall with other areas in the south of Engla...

Andrew George | 517 c680 (Link to this contribution) I am grateful for that intervention, as I entirely support what the hon. Gentleman said. Indeed, I h...

Dan Rogerson | 517 c678 (Link to this contribution) I congratulate my hon. Friend on his contribution and on his amendments, to which I have appended my...

Andrew George | 517 c678 (Link to this contribution) It is a pleasure to follow the hon. Member for Foyle (Mark Durkan), who makes a case for which I hav...

Baroness Laing of Elderslie | 517 c679 (Link to this contribution) Surely the hon. Gentleman is not suggesting that the proud duchy of Cornwall and its proud Cornishme...

Andrew George | 517 c678-9 (Link to this contribution) My hon. Friend is absolutely right. I am grateful to all five of my parliamentary colleagues in Corn...

Andrew George | 517 c679 (Link to this contribution) I shall give way in a moment, but let me make a little more progress. It is vital for people to und...

Andrew George | 517 c679 (Link to this contribution) It is very nice of the hon. Lady to take an interest in Cornwall and I appreciate that. If she wants...

Andrew Turner | 517 c682 (Link to this contribution) Not for the moment, if the hon. Gentleman will forgive me. What we have is a limited and sometimes ...

Andrew Turner | 517 c682 (Link to this contribution) I tabled amendment 1 to protect the Isle of Wight. The needs and interests of the people of the Isle...

Albert Owen | 517 c682 (Link to this contribution) Will the hon. Gentleman give way?

Siobhain McDonagh | 517 c681-2 (Link to this contribution) I was prompted to speak solely by the words of the hon. Member for Corby (Ms Bagshawe), who said tha...

Andrew George | 517 c681 (Link to this contribution) I do. I wish to bring my remarks to a close, as other Members wish to contribute to the debate. I a...

Stephen Gilbert | 517 c681 (Link to this contribution) This issue strikes at identity, community and history—all encapsulated in amendment 183, to which I ...

Andrew George | 517 c680 (Link to this contribution) Let me quote someone else. It was Matthew Arnold who said that it was the desire of a centralised st...

Angus Brendan MacNeil | 517 c680 (Link to this contribution) The hon. Gentleman has mentioned history and culture, and there is of course the Gaelic proverb:"““S...

Andrew George | 517 c680 (Link to this contribution) I shall support every amendment that achieves the objects set out clearly in my two amendments.

Toby Perkins | 517 c680 (Link to this contribution) The hon. Gentleman has made a powerful case about Cornwall. I believe that the amendment proposed by...

Lord Mann | 517 c684 (Link to this contribution) On a point of order, Mr Deputy Speaker. You said in response to the point of order of my hon. Friend...

Speaker | 517 c684 (Link to this contribution) The hon. Member has raised this point previously, and I stress once again that it is not a point of ...

Kevin Brennan | 517 c683 (Link to this contribution) On a point of order, Mr Deputy Speaker. When you called the Front-Bench spokesmen, at least a dozen ...

Chris Bryant | 517 c683 (Link to this contribution) I will not, if my hon. Friend does not mind. I know that the Minister needs to be able to reply.

Chris Bryant | 517 c683-4 (Link to this contribution) My hon. Friend the Member for Cardiff West (Kevin Brennan) knows perfectly well that I entirely agre...

Speaker | 517 c683 (Link to this contribution) That is not a point of order. The point about the amount of time allowed for the debate has been tak...

Andrew Turner | 517 c683 (Link to this contribution) I understand that perfectly. As well as the two Scottish island constituencies, there are other arb...

Albert Owen | 517 c682 (Link to this contribution) Like the hon. Gentleman, I represent an island community. Although it is linked to the mainland by a...

Kevin Brennan | 517 c683 (Link to this contribution) Will my hon. Friend give way?

Chris Bryant | 517 c683 (Link to this contribution) So far this evening, the Government have gained no supporters for their argument. I think that there...

Angela C Smith | 517 c667 (Link to this contribution) I should like to put on record the fact that Sheffield would love to absorb Rotherham constituencies...

Lord Murphy of Torfaen | 517 c667 (Link to this contribution) Again, I would not want to interfere in Yorkshire traditions.

Angus Brendan MacNeil | 517 c667 (Link to this contribution) Does the right hon. Gentleman agree that the 88-year-old state of the United Kingdom is a very unbal...

Lord Murphy of Torfaen | 517 c667 (Link to this contribution) I am sure the hon. Gentleman will agree that whatever his ideal, he is against a reduction in the nu...

Lord Dodds of Duncairn | 517 c666 (Link to this contribution) The right hon. Gentleman served with great distinction as Secretary of State for Northern Ireland as...

Lord Murphy of Torfaen | 517 c667 (Link to this contribution) The Government have ripped up that settlement as they have ripped up the devolution settlements in W...

Denis MacShane | 517 c667 (Link to this contribution) My right hon. Friend makes a powerful case for Wales, but the proposals affect many communities in E...

Lord Murphy of Torfaen | 517 c667 (Link to this contribution) I entirely agree with my right hon. Friend. I would not want to come between Sheffield and Rotherham...

Louise Mensch | 517 c666 (Link to this contribution) The right hon. Gentleman is making an astonishing argument. Does he not understand that the preserva...

Lord Murphy of Torfaen | 517 c666 (Link to this contribution) Absolutely to the contrary. The Union is protected because it recognises the different parts within ...

Mark Tami | 517 c669 (Link to this contribution) Is it not a sign of how rushed this is that the Government will not listen to any of these arguments...

Tristram Hunt | 517 c669 (Link to this contribution) Is the hon. Gentleman more and more surprised, when he reads into the Bill, that this proposal comes...

Jacob Rees-Mogg | 517 c669 (Link to this contribution) I thank the hon. Gentleman for his comments. Reading his piece in the Financial Times, which made a ...

Kevin Brennan | 517 c668 (Link to this contribution) I am grateful to the hon. Gentleman for giving way, particularly so early in his remarks. I have rea...

Jacob Rees-Mogg | 517 c668 (Link to this contribution) It had occurred to me that I might suggest to my noble kinsman that he might wish to move a similar ...

Lord Murphy of Torfaen | 517 c668 (Link to this contribution) I very much doubt it. The whole point is that the Government have handled the matter atrociously. At...

Jacob Rees-Mogg | 517 c668 (Link to this contribution) I wish to speak to my amendment 207, but first may I say how much I agreed with the hon. Member for ...

Lord Murphy of Torfaen | 517 c667-8 (Link to this contribution) Is the hon. Lady not aware that many countries, including the United States and Spain, have proper r...

Chris Ruane | 517 c668 (Link to this contribution) My hon. Friend gave some excellent international examples. Is there any danger that those countries ...

Baroness Laing of Elderslie | 517 c667 (Link to this contribution) I have listened carefully to the right hon. Gentleman. I totally agree with him, and nobody is a fie...

Charles Kennedy | 517 c661 (Link to this contribution) I say in a genial way what a pleasure it is to follow the hon. Member for Rhondda (Chris Bryant)—it ...

Ian Lucas | 517 c662 (Link to this contribution) The right hon. Gentleman referred to hearings that took place following the latest boundary review. ...

Charles Kennedy | 517 c662 (Link to this contribution) I absolutely agree and endorse entirely the sentiment and substance of what the hon. Gentleman says....

David Hamilton | 517 c662 (Link to this contribution) Given that we are not going to be partisan, does the right hon. Gentleman agree that the Scottish bo...

Charles Kennedy | 517 c662-3 (Link to this contribution) Yes, I agree completely with the hon. Gentleman. In a moment of political frustration when he was Pr...

Angus Brendan MacNeil | 517 c663 (Link to this contribution) May I remind the right hon. Gentleman that the council in north Lewis was Ross and Cromarty, while f...

Charles Kennedy | 517 c663 (Link to this contribution) I very much agree. A similar argument applies to the Northern Isles, and it is absolutely correct th...

Charles Kennedy | 517 c663-4 (Link to this contribution) That is a very good suggestion, and I am pleased that Labour Front Benchers are nodding in agreement...

Kevin Brennan | 517 c663 (Link to this contribution) Do not the right hon. Gentleman's amendments, which specify particular communities, whether Na h-Eil...

Lord Murphy of Torfaen | 517 c664-5 (Link to this contribution) I cannot actually remember when Aneurin Bevan was in the House of Commons, but he is still my great ...

Chris Ruane | 517 c665 (Link to this contribution) Why does my right hon. Friend think the Wales Secretary has not held a Welsh Grand Committee?

Jonathan Evans | 517 c664 (Link to this contribution) The right hon. Gentleman talks about the history of the valley communities, but he may recall that w...

Lord Murphy of Torfaen | 517 c666 (Link to this contribution) Of course. Another aspect of the Bill is the Government's singular failure to consult the First Min...

Hywel Francis | 517 c666 (Link to this contribution) My right hon. Friend makes a strong point. Does he agree that the excellent report published last we...

Albert Owen | 517 c666 (Link to this contribution) Does my right hon. Friend agree that it was not Members of Parliament who decided the minimum number...

Lord Murphy of Torfaen | 517 c664 (Link to this contribution) It is an enormous privilege to follow the right hon. Member for Ross, Skye and Lochaber (Mr Kennedy)...

Lord Murphy of Torfaen | 517 c666 (Link to this contribution) Indeed—the Chair of the Committee is my neighbour, the hon. Member for Monmouth (David T. C. Davies)...

Jacob Rees-Mogg | 517 c669 (Link to this contribution) I was going to make the cheap comment that the Deputy Prime Minister is, of course, a borough Member...

Jacob Rees-Mogg | 517 c669 (Link to this contribution) I have the greatest sympathy with my hon. Friend's view, although, as I said in an earlier intervent...

Sheryll Murray | 517 c669 (Link to this contribution) Does my hon. Friend agree that the historic boundary between Devon and Cornwall needs to be protecte...

Ian Lucas | 517 c670 (Link to this contribution) Will my hon. Friend give way?

Susan Elan Jones | 517 c669-70 (Link to this contribution) I am not calling merely for kindness from Her Majesty's Government; I am calling for decent, adequat...

Ian Lucas | 517 c670 (Link to this contribution) I am grateful to my hon. Friend and neighbour for giving way. Does she agree that the contempt in wh...

Susan Elan Jones | 517 c670 (Link to this contribution) I would be delighted to, and I will give way to any Government Members if they have any points to ra...

Jonathan Evans | 517 c670 (Link to this contribution) As the hon. Lady develops this victimhood of Wales, perhaps she would like to reflect on the fact th...

Susan Elan Jones | 517 c670 (Link to this contribution) I suggest that the hon. Gentleman go back to his constituents and say, ““Yes, of course it's right t...

Susan Elan Jones | 517 c671 (Link to this contribution) I have always enjoyed reading the hon. Lady's works in the past, but this is about fact: the fact of...

Louise Mensch | 517 c671 (Link to this contribution) I am grateful to the hon. Lady for giving way, as I am happy to rise to her earlier challenge. She s...

Susan Elan Jones | 517 c671 (Link to this contribution) I agree, and Government Members are showing that they have absolutely no understanding of the histor...

Owen Smith | 517 c671 (Link to this contribution) Is not the point that my hon. Friend is making—and making very eloquently, I might add—that we shoul...

Susan Elan Jones | 517 c671 (Link to this contribution) I would indeed hope that that would be the case. I do not wish to continue in the same vein, becaus...

Huw Irranca-Davies | 517 c671 (Link to this contribution) Does my hon. Friend share my distaste, not to say disgust, at the fact that if the proposal is put t...

Susan Elan Jones | 517 c671 (Link to this contribution) I agree with my hon. Friend. This Government are also saying that there is no such thing as Welsh so...

Albert Owen | 517 c671 (Link to this contribution) In the 1980s, Margaret Thatcher said as Prime Minister that there was no such thing as society. Are ...

Viscount Thurso | 517 c671-2 (Link to this contribution) I rise in support of amendment 183, which my right hon. Friend the Member for Ross, Skye and Lochabe...

Mark Field | 517 c658 (Link to this contribution) Will the hon. Gentleman give way?

Chris Bryant | 517 c658 (Link to this contribution) I will, but I do not want to take up too much time.

Fiona Mactaggart | 517 c658 (Link to this contribution) My hon. Friend is talking about the number of seats within a larger boundary area. I am based in Ber...

Chris Bryant | 517 c658 (Link to this contribution) I have not got to my peroration yet—this is just the beginning—but I am grateful to my hon. Friend f...

Mark Field | 517 c657 (Link to this contribution) How many electors would Wales have had to find to make up its full quota of 40 seats, which the hon....

Chris Bryant | 517 c656-7 (Link to this contribution) The Government's rhetoric suggests that all parliamentary seats should be of exactly the same size o...

Speaker | 517 c653-6 (Link to this contribution) With this it will be convenient to discuss the following:

Chris Bryant | 517 c653 (Link to this contribution) I beg to move amendment No 9, in page 9, leave out lines 13 to 20 and insert—

Kevin Brennan | 517 c648 (Link to this contribution) The time that has been given to debate the Bill overall is inadequate, as is the time set out in tod...

Tristram Hunt | 517 c660 (Link to this contribution) Is my hon. Friend aware that because of the totalising nature of the reforms, Professor Johnston sai...

Chris Bryant | 517 c660-1 (Link to this contribution) My hon. Friend, who is on the Committee, makes a very valuable point. It was made very clear to the ...

Chris Bryant | 517 c659-60 (Link to this contribution) My hon. Friend is absolutely right. The wards in some metropolitan areas comprise 15,000 or 20,000 v...

Angela C Smith | 517 c659 (Link to this contribution) Under these proposals, it is perfectly possible that one of the wards in my constituency, East Eccle...

Chris Bryant | 517 c660 (Link to this contribution) I will not give way to the hon. Gentleman a third time, if he does not mind. We have very little tim...

Mark Field | 517 c660 (Link to this contribution) Will the hon. Gentleman give way?

Mark Field | 517 c658-9 (Link to this contribution) Does the shadow Minister recognise that this is the self-same argument that was made, probably in th...

Chris Bryant | 517 c659 (Link to this contribution) The hon. Gentleman should not try to misrepresent my argument. I am not arguing in the slightest for...

Mark Harper | 517 c647 (Link to this contribution) I beg to move,"That the following provisions shall apply to the Parliamentary Voting System and Cons...

Chris Bryant | 517 c647-8 (Link to this contribution) No, we disagree with the knives in this motion, and we made that absolutely clear when asked about i...

Jonathan Edwards | 517 c648 (Link to this contribution) As a whole, the Bill is very significant for Wales—holding the alternative vote referendum on the sa...

Speaker | 517 c737 (Link to this contribution) Order. I understand that the House is excited, but we must hear the point of order.

Speaker | 517 c738 (Link to this contribution) The right hon. Gentleman has made his point, and I understand his concern. He knows that the program...

Sadiq Khan | 517 c737 (Link to this contribution) On a point of order, Mr Speaker––[Interruption.] ... Thank you, Mr Speaker. We have today debated ...

David Heath | 517 c729 (Link to this contribution) I am telling the hon. Gentleman why, if he will just listen. The boundaries in force in England for...

George Howarth | 517 c729 (Link to this contribution) The Deputy Leader of the House makes a fair point that those registers were out of date. Does he bel...

David Heath | 517 c729 (Link to this contribution) Yes, it is very important that we get people registered, and it is an indictment of the previous Gov...

Sadiq Khan | 517 c729 (Link to this contribution) The Deputy Leader of the House will be aware that the average time taken for a review in the current...

David Heath | 517 c729-30 (Link to this contribution) It is hardly a secret that we want a general election based on fair constituencies, and I do not thi...

Sadiq Khan | 517 c730 (Link to this contribution) The Deputy Leader of the House makes an interesting point and quotes a generalised point that the pr...

David Heath | 517 c730 (Link to this contribution) No, it is the one occasion when it is absolutely essential that we have the fullest possible consult...

David Heath | 517 c727-9 (Link to this contribution) I am grateful to the hon. Lady. The Select Committee has done a very good job in raising some import...

Mark Durkan | 517 c730-1 (Link to this contribution) The Deputy Leader has said that where a boundary commission reviews its recommendations, they will b...

David Heath | 517 c731 (Link to this contribution) I would answer the hon. Gentleman in two ways, and I know that he takes a serious interest in these ...

Baroness Laing of Elderslie | 517 c732 (Link to this contribution) I am grateful to the Minister for giving full consideration to amendments 205 and 206. I accept his ...

Sadiq Khan | 517 c731 (Link to this contribution) The Deputy Leader of the House quoted Professor Johnston out of context and now has issues with lawy...

Ian Lucas | 517 c730 (Link to this contribution) Will the Deputy Leader of the House give way?

George Howarth | 517 c722 (Link to this contribution) My hon. Friend is quite right. The ripple effect in a metropolitan county such as Merseyside, which ...

Lord Mann | 517 c722 (Link to this contribution) I thank my right hon. Friend for generously giving way, and he is making an excellent point. Will th...

George Howarth | 517 c722 (Link to this contribution) I shall give way to my hon. Friend the Member for Bassetlaw (John Mann) and then to my hon. Friend t...

George Howarth | 517 c722 (Link to this contribution) It is very tempting to be taken down the road that my hon. Friend seeks to lead me, but having spent...

Alan Whitehead | 517 c721 (Link to this contribution) I wonder whether my right hon. Friend, in reflecting on the problems of the Mersey, might also consi...

Nia Griffith | 517 c723 (Link to this contribution) I thank my right hon. Friend for allowing me to intervene. Does he not agree that the key point abou...

George Howarth | 517 c723 (Link to this contribution) My hon. Friend put that argument very well indeed and I would struggle to find the words to match wh...

Lord Dodds of Duncairn | 517 c723-5 (Link to this contribution) I want to speak in support of amendment 209, tabled in my name and that of my hon. Friend the Member...

Ian Lucas | 517 c726 (Link to this contribution) Does my hon. Friend know whether any party standing at the last general election had as a manifesto ...

Alan Whitehead | 517 c725-6 (Link to this contribution) Almost all of us are aware of the purpose of the abolition of inquiries into boundary changes. It is...

David Heath | 517 c727 (Link to this contribution) Let me start by thanking the hon. Member for Epping Forest (Mrs Laing) for speaking to the amendment...

Alan Whitehead | 517 c726-7 (Link to this contribution) As my hon. Friend will know, peruse though one might, it is not possible to find such a pledge. If a...

Lord Dodds of Duncairn | 517 c725 (Link to this contribution) I thank the hon. Gentleman for his intervention. Given the experience of recent days, and the Minist...

Angus Brendan MacNeil | 517 c725 (Link to this contribution) It strikes me that there is cross-community agreement on local public inquiries as the Northern Irel...

Lord Dodds of Duncairn | 517 c725 (Link to this contribution) In Northern Ireland, the parliamentary constituency boundaries are the Northern Ireland Assembly bou...

Lord Murphy of Torfaen | 517 c725 (Link to this contribution) My right hon. Friend is making an important point. Is he aware that, so far as I know, there is an a...

Baroness Laing of Elderslie | 517 c727 (Link to this contribution) On behalf of the Select Committee, I thank the Minister and the Government for listening and acting ...

Sadiq Khan | 517 c715-6 (Link to this contribution) It is with pleasure that I address the Chair, Madam Deputy Speaker. May I tell my hon. Friend that o...

Speaker | 517 c715 (Link to this contribution) Order. As the right hon. Gentleman rises to answer that intervention, may I remind him that he is su...

Sadiq Khan | 517 c716-7 (Link to this contribution) My hon. Friend's point would have less force if the coalition Government were taking time to ensure ...

Geraint Davies | 517 c716 (Link to this contribution) Does my right hon. Friend accept that giving primacy to numbers as opposed to community and geograph...

Sadiq Khan | 517 c716 (Link to this contribution) As ever, my hon. Friend makes a good point. Another, linked, point is that assistant commissioners o...

Huw Irranca-Davies | 517 c716 (Link to this contribution) My right hon. Friend will know individuals who never put pen to paper and who do not have the capaci...

Mark Durkan | 517 c717-8 (Link to this contribution) I rise to speak to amendments 194 and 195. Before I address them specifically, however, I shall comm...

David Hamilton | 517 c717 (Link to this contribution) Surely it cannot be right that in Scotland, at the end of the 10-year period between 2005 and 2015, ...

Sadiq Khan | 517 c717 (Link to this contribution) This is what we call the respect agenda. I hope that when those in Scotland have seen the Bill rushe...

Baroness Laing of Elderslie | 517 c718 (Link to this contribution) I rise to defend myself, because that is not at all what I said. On the contrary, communities and lo...

Mark Durkan | 517 c718 (Link to this contribution) Thank you, Madam Deputy Speaker. I take no responsibility for the possibility that the boundaries of...

Speaker | 517 c718 (Link to this contribution) Order. Interventions should be short, not a second speech.

Mark Durkan | 517 c719 (Link to this contribution) I do not want to dwell on this, because I spoke about it in the context of an earlier amendment, but...

Angus Brendan MacNeil | 517 c719 (Link to this contribution) Is the hon. Gentleman suggesting—and all of us in the islands must bear this in mind—that there will...

Lord Watts | 517 c721 (Link to this contribution) My right hon. Friend will be aware that the last time the number-crunching took place the Boundary C...

George Howarth | 517 c719-21 (Link to this contribution) It is a great pleasure to follow my hon. Friend the Member for Foyle (Mark Durkan), who always speak...

George Howarth | 517 c721 (Link to this contribution) I do not think that that would be impossible. After all, two tunnels and a bridge run between the tw...

Sadiq Khan | 517 c721 (Link to this contribution) Is the point not that under the Bill, as drafted—I refer to clauses 11(2) and 11(5)—numbers trump ev...

George Howarth | 517 c721 (Link to this contribution) Yes, and my right hon. Friend may not have realised it, but I am actually supporting his argument. T...

Sadiq Khan | 517 c712 (Link to this contribution) I was coming to that. I am not embarrassed to say that political parties have a huge role to play in...

Sadiq Khan | 517 c711-2 (Link to this contribution) My hon. Friend makes an important point, and colleagues in the other place with read it with interes...

Gavin Williamson | 517 c712 (Link to this contribution) Of all the changes made by the assistant commissioners, how many were instigated by proposals put fo...

Sadiq Khan | 517 c713 (Link to this contribution) Given parts 1 and 2 of the Bill, one has to ask what sort of shabby deal was made in those five days...

David Winnick | 517 c713 (Link to this contribution) My right hon. Friend is making a powerful speech about this travesty of democracy. Can one imagine w...

Sadiq Khan | 517 c712-3 (Link to this contribution) As somebody who does not get the chance to go to Anfield as much as he would like, I take my right h...

Sadiq Khan | 517 c712 (Link to this contribution) My right hon. Friend makes my point for me. There will be many people who are unhappy with how bound...

Sadiq Khan | 517 c713-4 (Link to this contribution) One of the reasons why we have a Public Gallery and open democracy is that people can see democracy ...

Henry Smith | 517 c714 (Link to this contribution) We have heard terms such as ““denial of democracy”” and ““inconsistency”” in recent interventions, b...

Sadiq Khan | 517 c714 (Link to this contribution) The way it works in a democracy is that candidates stand on a manifesto and people vote for that man...

Gavin Williamson | 517 c714 (Link to this contribution) I actually asked the right hon. Gentleman how many of the changes in question had been the result of...

Huw Irranca-Davies | 517 c713 (Link to this contribution) May I point out to my right hon. Friend the inconsistency in principles at work here? In Wales, we a...

Ian Lucas | 517 c714 (Link to this contribution) It is important to highlight the fact that oral representations in a public inquiry will be taken aw...

Lord Mann | 517 c715 (Link to this contribution) It is good to use Manchester as an example when one talks about public inquiries. South Manchester h...

Sadiq Khan | 517 c714-5 (Link to this contribution) I advise my hon. Friend to be very careful with this coalition Government. In five months, they have...

Russell Brown | 517 c706 (Link to this contribution) This evening and on other occasions, Members of this House have put great emphasis on equal votes ha...

Baroness Laing of Elderslie | 517 c706 (Link to this contribution) I am sure that the hon. Gentleman is speaking from sincere and heartfelt beliefs, but that is totall...

Baroness Laing of Elderslie | 517 c707 (Link to this contribution) No, I cannot prolong this part of the debate. I am aware that there is very little time and there ar...

Mark Durkan | 517 c707 (Link to this contribution) Will the hon. Lady give way?

Baroness Laing of Elderslie | 517 c707 (Link to this contribution) I see the hon. Gentleman's point. However, the logic and arithmetic of that is that it does of cours...

Lord Mann | 517 c706 (Link to this contribution) Completing the circle of logic in the hon. Lady's argument, presumably she will want to table, or to...

Nick Smith | 517 c709 (Link to this contribution) As the Member for Blaenau Gwent, I have a coterminous borough. If I want to get things done, I go to...

Sadiq Khan | 517 c708-9 (Link to this contribution) I thank my hon. Friend for his comment. I will come later to the evidence, which is something the Go...

Lord Mann | 517 c707-8 (Link to this contribution) Is it not the case that where the traditional English counties, for example, are breached, such as b...

Sadiq Khan | 517 c707 (Link to this contribution) I rise to speak to amendment 15, on which we will wish to divide the House. It is always a pleasure...

Huw Irranca-Davies | 517 c709 (Link to this contribution) Pursuant to the point made by my hon. Friend the Member for Blaenau Gwent (Nick Smith), I should add...

Sadiq Khan | 517 c709 (Link to this contribution) I thank my hon. Friend. [Interruption.] I hear the chuntering from those on the coalition Government...

Sadiq Khan | 517 c710 (Link to this contribution) With respect, may I tell the hon. Lady why she is wrong? My hon. Friends' constituents will have the...

Baroness Laing of Elderslie | 517 c709-10 (Link to this contribution) I am very concerned about the points made by the hon. Members for Blaenau Gwent (Nick Smith) and for...

Sadiq Khan | 517 c710 (Link to this contribution) If the Minister is so confident in his arguments, why does he not allow the public to make objection...

David Heath | 517 c710 (Link to this contribution) I find it extraordinary that we have these complaints from Members representing small constituencies...

Sadiq Khan | 517 c710-1 (Link to this contribution) I am not sure what point the right hon. Gentleman is trying to make. We are talking about the abolit...

Lord Beith | 517 c710 (Link to this contribution) What makes the right hon. Gentleman's argument so unpersuasive to me is that when the people of Nort...

David Hamilton | 517 c711 (Link to this contribution) May I reinforce my right hon. Friend's point? There was a public inquiry in Midlothian before the 20...

Speaker | 517 c705 (Link to this contribution) Order. I know that people have strong views on this, but, Mr Tami, it would help if you proceeded by...

Lord Dodds of Duncairn | 517 c676 (Link to this contribution) On this issue, the hon. Gentleman and I agree about the Bill's impact on the Northern Ireland Assemb...

Lord Murphy of Torfaen | 517 c665-6 (Link to this contribution) I have not the slightest idea other than that the Secretary of State wants to avoid a debate or the ...

Chris Bryant | 517 c657-8 (Link to this contribution) A very large number, but I am not arguing against greater parity, as I hope I have made clear on sev...

Ian Lucas | 517 c731 (Link to this contribution) If the Minister believes that abolishing public inquiries into boundary reforms is such a good idea,...

David Heath | 517 c730 (Link to this contribution) No, I have got to make progress. The third reason for abolishing inquiries is that they rarely lead...

Sadiq Khan | 517 c714 (Link to this contribution) I will go one better. In a few moments, I will cite for the hon. Gentleman not what I think, but wha...

Sadiq Khan | 517 c709 (Link to this contribution) That highlights some of the nonsense reasons given by the coalition Government for the Bill. We are ...

Baroness Laing of Elderslie | 517 c705 (Link to this contribution) Well if he has, he has: I am sorry that I did not notice. [Interruption.] I have said on more than o...

Susan Elan Jones | 517 c670 (Link to this contribution) The answer is this ragbag Government, who will not stand up for the people of Wales. Indeed, it is n...

Chris Bryant | 517 c729 (Link to this contribution) Why?

David Heath | 517 c731 (Link to this contribution) We did not propose legislation on the Boundary Commission at that point, but we are doing so now, an...

David Heath | 517 c731 (Link to this contribution) If each of the boundary commissions does a thorough job, which I fully expect them to, and takes the...

George Howarth | 517 c712 (Link to this contribution) My right hon. Friend prayed in aid Merseyside, but he should not take that argument too far, because...

George Howarth | 517 c712 (Link to this contribution) My right hon. Friend needs to realise the fact that, because Wirral ended up with undersized constit...

Subjects

Boundary commissions

Constituency size

Alternative vote

Cornwall

Elections

Electorate

Distribution of seats

Electoral register

General elections

Isles of Scilly

Isle of Wight

Local government

Northern Ireland

Northern Ireland Assembly

Members

Public consultation

National Assembly for Wales

Publicity

Referendums

Public inquiries

Scotland

Voting methods

Reform

Wales

Scottish Parliament

Unitary councils

Western Isles

Ynys Môn

Orkney and Shetland

Legislation

Parliamentary Voting System and Constituencies Bill 2010-12

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