This group of amendments deals with various matters pertaining to the detailed conduct of the proposed referendum.
Amendments 52 to 55 would impose deadlines on the Electoral Commission. Existing legislation gives the commission appropriate powers and responsibilities. Particularly as we do not yet know the exact date on which the referendum will take place, it would be wrong to impose undue inflexibility on the commission, as these amendments would do.
Amendment 17 would impose thresholds. The Government believe that the referendum result should be determined, as has been the case in other referendums, by a simple majority of those who vote. Thresholds should not be required in respect of turnout or anything else.