I shall endeavour to be as helpful as I can when I reach amendment 43, which is closely adjacent to the points made by the hon. Member for Perth and North Perthshire (Pete Wishart), without, I hope, trying your patience in the process, Mr Hoyle.
Clauses 3 and 5 fulfil the Smith commission agreement devolving significant electoral powers to the Scottish Parliament while ensuring that polls for Scottish parliamentary ordinary general elections will not be held on the same day as UK parliamentary general elections, European general elections or ordinary government elections, as we just discussed. The UK Government consider the timing and combination of polls to be intrinsically linked. I think that we might have covered that point, but I want to make sure that it is clear. That is why the combination of polls involving a reserved poll with a poll at a Scottish parliamentary election or local government election in Scotland continues to be reserved, as does the combination of a poll at a Scottish parliamentary ordinary general election with a poll at an ordinary local government election in Scotland. I urge Members to withdraw their amendments for the reasons that I have just given.
Amendment 43 seeks to ensure that it would not be possible for a Scottish parliamentary general election to be held on the same day as a referendum called under reserved powers. The hon. Member for Caerphilly gets top marks for ingenuity for trying to shoehorn into the Bill before us today a measure which affects tomorrow’s business. I understand that there are strong views on the issue and I promise him that we are considering them carefully. He will know that an amendment has been tabled for the business tomorrow which is very similar to this one and will allow the issue to be debated in some depth. I therefore encourage my right hon. and hon. Friends to resist the opportunity to support the amendment, if only because it would not be fair to Members of other devolved Parliaments and Assemblies, which may have elections on the same day as the Scottish elections next year, for such a measure to be dealt with in a Scottish Bill when we have the opportunity to deal with it properly tomorrow.
9 pm
The hon. Member for Caerphilly was right to point out the Electoral Commission’s view on the combination of polls. The commission is very cautious and extremely concerned about excessive combination of polls because of the potential for confusion in electors’ minds. I hope we would all agree that this is a statement which is true within boundaries. We are all familiar with occasions— 7 May was a good example in many parts of the country—where there are general election polls on the same day as local election polls, so it is possible to combine some polls without any ill effects and electors are used to that. But if too many polls are combined on the same day, perhaps with combined ballot papers, the potential for confusion exists, which is why the Electoral Commission is so concerned.
Amendments 46 and 47 on electoral registration and voting were tabled by the hon. Member for Nottingham North. Members will be aware that the hon. Gentleman was Chair of the Political and Constitutional Reform Committee in the previous Parliament—indeed, he was waving around one of the Committee’s reports earlier. I thank him for his Committee’s work on the important issue of registration. His amendments relate to automatic registration and online voting. The Bill transfers order-making powers in clause 4—the new section 12—that provide the Scottish Ministers with powers regarding the conduct of Scottish Parliament elections and the registration of electors at those elections. The Government consider that these will be sufficient for the Scottish Ministers to provide, should they wish, for both automatic registration and electronic voting at Scottish parliamentary elections. The Government therefore consider the amendments unnecessary and beyond the remit of the Bill.
The hon. Members for Edinburgh South (Ian Murray) and for Caerphilly tabled new clause 11 which seeks to require the Electoral Commission to produce guidance on ways of further improving the electoral registration process in Scotland, and of ensuring the completeness of electoral registers in Scotland. Under the Smith commission agreement, the Bill devolves functions of the Electoral Commission to the Scottish Parliament in relation to Scottish Parliament elections. The provisions in the Bill will already allow the Scottish Parliament to make provisions for the Electoral Commission to produce such guidance in relation to Scottish parliamentary and local government elections in Scotland. The new clause is therefore not necessary and I hope the hon. Gentlemen will withdraw the new clause when the moment arrives.
On individual electoral registration, I agree with the hon. Member for Caerphilly. Speaking from the Opposition Front Bench, he said it was essential that registers were as complete and as accurate as possible. I am sure that democrats in all parts of the House would applaud that sentiment. We want to ensure that that is happening wherever we can. A report from the Electoral Commission is due shortly which is designed to assess the effect of individual electoral registration, where it has gone well and where it has progressed more slowly, and to assess what benefits have resulted from it. It would therefore be premature to prejudge that report, but I am sure that the hon. Gentleman and I and pretty much everybody in the Chamber will examine it in detail when it comes out. I am sure it will contain some useful recommendations and some important facts for us all to consider.
Non-IER registered electors are those who were not among the 87% of the electorate who were data-matched and automatically transferred to the new registers and who are yet to make a fresh application under the new system. That means 13% of electors on the original electoral rolls were initially unmatched, and we have been whittling down that number. Unless their electoral registration officers have evidence to suggest that those people are no longer eligible, they have been retained on the electoral register as carry-forward electors. The end of the transition to IER will be the point at which any of those remaining non-IER registered electors are automatically removed from the electoral registers in Great Britain.
The amendment would allow the Scottish Government to make regulations about the impact of the end of transition to IER on the completeness of the registers for Scottish parliamentary and local government elections. However, clause 4 already gives Scottish Ministers a broad power to make provision on matters relating to the conduct of Scottish parliamentary and local government elections, particularly on the registration of electors. The intention behind the amendment is to make provision to keep non-IER registered electors on the Scottish electoral registers beyond the end of the transition, but Scottish Ministers could do so already under clause 4 as currently drafted. The amendment would therefore add nothing and is unnecessary. I hope that it will be withdrawn so that we can proceed.