Parliamentary Constituencies Bill

It is a pleasure to speak again on the Bill, as it gives me the opportunity to put on the record ...

I have been listening intently to what the hon. Lady has been saying, and at the very beginning o...

Quite the opposite: I am arguing that under the status quo the only blockage to the passing of a ...

My hon. Friend is getting to the nub of the issue. The reason why the Government failed to put th...

My right hon. Friend made some thoughtful and interesting contributions in Committee and continue...

I apologise for interrupting the shadow Minister’s train of thought, but she keeps repeating this...

I thank the right hon. Lady for her intervention, but I am afraid that I quite simply disagree. T...

A further point about the need for this 7.5% is that it would particularly help seats in Wales, w...

My hon. Friend makes a very good point about the particular geography in the Welsh valleys where ...

The hon. Lady talks about keeping communities together and about breaking up wards. Why does it m...

I would argue that the wards, which are obviously drawn by the Local Government Boundary Commissi...

The hon. Lady raises the case of Port Talbot in a previous review. Does she not accept that this ...

I think in the case of Port Talbot it was the 5% quota that meant that that decision had to be re...

We have heard from the other side a suggestion that we should use polling districts as the buildi...

My hon. Friend makes an important point about the legal standing of polling districts. Wards that...

Thank you, Mr Deputy Speaker, for giving me the opportunity to contribute in this debate and to s...

Could the right hon. Member tell the House whether he argued this case in the past and voted that...

I am grateful for the right hon. Member’s intervention. I looked through Hansard to see what the ...

It is a great pleasure to follow the right hon. Member for Vale of Glamorgan (Alun Cairns). I hav...

Does the hon. Gentleman accept that the primary purpose of this legislation is to ensure that vot...

I would make two points on that. First, the primary purpose of this Bill is, I suspect, to revers...

Order. I am sure colleagues can see that there is a lot of time pressure in this debate. I urge M...

First, I thank the Minister and her team for their hard work on this Bill. There are a select few...

This is an argument I considered perhaps in response to the hon. Member for Dartford (Gareth John...

The hon. Gentleman makes an eloquent point, but I disagree with him fundamentally. At the end of ...

Does my hon. Friend agree that the solution Labour proposes in new clause 1 is somewhat crude and...

I thank my hon. Friend for his intervention, which is, as always, well-considered and eloquent. I...

I totally agree with what my hon. Friend is saying. The absurdity of entire wards making constitu...

Certainly, in some of the larger metropolitan boroughs, there is what I call the martini paradox,...

I am listening to the hon. Gentleman’s speech with great interest. I wonder if he agrees with me,...

If the hon. Lady will bear with me, I will come to that point when I address new clause 3.

...

The hon. Gentleman knows that I have a lot of time for him, but he will recognise that the rule i...

The hon. Gentleman knows that I have a lot of time for him, too. I am not here to blindly say tha...

Order.

Shall I wind up, Madam Deputy Speaker?

Yes.

Okay. Somebody else can deal with automaticity.

We are not really doing very well so far, are we? We will have another go at trying to stick to s...

I shall certainly try, Madam Deputy Speaker.

Can we be frank? Boundary changes are a real n...

The right hon. Member will remember that the Halesowen and Selly Oak constituency was dropped by ...

Why did it come up with that in the first place when it was clearly such a dumb proposal? Parliam...

I was actually enjoying the speech from the right hon. Member for Warley (John Spellar), and I ag...

I thank the hon. Gentleman for giving way. Since his hon. Friend the Member for Heywood and Middl...

People have the option, if they want, to register to vote. That was made a very easy process by t...

I am glad that the hon. Gentleman read the Committee reports, but I am not sure he read my commen...

I did read the right hon. Gentleman’s quote, and I have looked into exactly what that was. It was...

Madam Deputy Speaker, I do apologise for attending the Chamber late—it takes me a little time to ...

This is perhaps one of the arguments behind keeping to 650 so the actual sizes of constituencies ...

I shall speak to new clause 3, tabled in my name and those of my other Liberal Democrat colleague...

It will not surprise anybody that I rise in support of the Bill. The current boundaries of the pa...

Will the hon. Gentleman give way?

I will give way, but I am conscious of the time.

Is he saying that Parliament has been ridiculous for almost the whole of its existence? What was ...

I would never suggest that anybody who was in Parliament for all those years was in any way actin...

Part of the point that the hon. Gentleman is missing is that it is not just Members of Parliament...

I am fully aware of that; I was speaking about the entirety of Parliament. I am going to get back...

Will my hon. Friend give way?

I will not because of the time.

I am fully aware that SNP Members do not view us as one nat...

Everyone on the Opposition Benches accepts that this parliamentary boundary review is overdue. I ...

I agree with much of what the hon. Gentleman is saying, but does he agree that sometimes a ward i...

I agree, provided it is within a recognisable local government area and a recognisable community,...

Will the hon. Gentleman give way?

No, because I heard Madam Deputy Speaker cough, which is telling me, “Efford, shut up.” I will co...

This Bill is all about creating fair and proper representation in this House for everyone in the ...

Can the hon. Lady see the logical inconsistency? Had the provisions of the Bill about automaticit...

I thank the right hon. Gentleman for his intervention, but on this review, the mathematics mean t...

Will the hon. Lady give way?

Will the hon. Lady give way?

I will press on, because we need to get other hon. Members this afternoon.

Constituency bou...

It is a pleasure to participate in this debate, and a particular pleasure to follow the hon. Memb...

I am a fan of the Kingdom of Sussex and I still sing “Sussex by the Sea” on our national day, but...

The hon. Member makes a good point in terms of the fact that the protections are temporary, in so...

I would like to take this argument when we have further devolution calls; at that point, because ...

That is a very good point well made.

To return to more familiar ground—Wales—let me say in ...

Does the hon. Gentleman accept that, for a cohesive society to sustain itself, equal representati...

I completely acknowledge and note the right hon. Gentleman’s arguments, but we fundamentally disa...

It is a great pleasure to follow the hon. Member for Ceredigion (Ben Lake). I am pleased to hear ...

Will the right hon. Lady give way?

The right hon. Gentleman has had quite a lot of giving way. I am not giving way.

On a point of order, Madam Deputy Speaker. The right hon. Member for Basingstoke (Mrs Miller) att...

It is up to the right hon. Member for Basingstoke (Mrs Miller) whether she wants to give way.

Thank you, Madam Deputy Speaker. I actually wrote it down—perhaps the right hon. Gentleman needs ...

You got it wrong! I said “a necessary”, not “unnecessary”.

Order. The right hon. Gentleman has put his views on the record, but he really must not interrupt...

Thank you, Madam Deputy Speaker.

The Bill is all about the quality of our democracy and abo...

I thank my right hon. Friend the Member for Basingstoke (Mrs Miller) for tabling amendment 14, wh...

I am delighted that my hon. Friend has secured statutory protection for her constituency, alongsi...

I thank my hon. Friend for his interruption—[Interruption.] Sorry—his intervention. I am a bit of...

Either works!

Either works. I am delighted that my hon. Friend the Member for Leigh (James Grundy) is present t...

It is a pleasure to follow the hon. Member for Ynys Môn (Virginia Crosbie). I congratulate her on...

Things have perked up enormously on the time front. However, from now on, if Members could stick ...

Before I begin, on Black Country Day, I want to pay tribute to the Black Country chartists and su...

Thank you, Madam Deputy Speaker, and a very happy Black Country Day to you today. As a proud Blac...

Order. I call Emma Hardy.

Thank you, Madam Deputy Speaker. I have found the debate a little confusing, because the argument...

It is a pleasure to follow the hon. Member for Kingston upon Hull West and Hessle (Emma Hardy). I...

If my hon. Friend is looking for more of the Newcastle-under-Lyme borough, could he please leave ...

The point of my hon. Friend and neighbour is well made.

I would also like to say how much d...

When I went to the Table Office a few weeks ago to pick up this Bill I picked up the wrong one, a...

Will the hon. Gentleman give way?

No, I am afraid that time is very tight.

The predecessor Committee to mine suggested 10%, w...

I call Alex Davies-Jones.

Diolch, Madam Deputy Speaker. I welcome the opportunity to speak on this very important Bill; I w...

I rise to speak to new clauses 1 and 3. New clause 1 is perhaps the biggest piece of contention o...

I speak in this debate with previous experience of the process of making electoral boundaries. As...

New clause 1 is in my opinion about stopping equalisation, because through this Bill we are going...

It is a pleasure to follow the hon. Member for Stoke-on-Trent North (Jonathan Gullis). He and I h...

And what a pleasure it is, as always, to follow the remarks of the sage of Strangford, the hon. M...

I am listening carefully to the Minister’s observations about the need to have equal constituenci...

I admire the tenacity with which the hon. Lady has made that argument today. It is not the subjec...

Does the Minister recognise that new clause 2, tabled by Plaid Cymru and the SNP, almost suggests...

I agree with my right hon. Friend. He knows that the Conservative party and the Government are ab...

I did not think it was possible to have as much fun as we had in Committee, but this afternoon ha...

I beg to move, That the Bill be now read the Third time.

I thank all Members who have contr...

I will keep my comments brief, as I covered the Labour party’s stance in my speech on Report. I p...

The Bill is all about creating fairness and making sure that every vote counts the same, and I wi...

I echo the comments made by my colleagues on the Front-Bench about our thanks to those who presid...

I call Gavin Robinson.

My name was withdrawn at a quarter past 11 this morning.

Oh, my goodness. I have no Member for North East Fife and although the hon. Member for Strangford...

Well, Madam Deputy Speaker, let us consider the glory of the United Kingdom. Let us start, alphab...

Does the Minister not agree that the debate has given everybody the opportunity to talk about the...

I absolutely agree on that, and it allows me to do something rarely allowed to a Minister in such...

Will the Minister give way?

Not until I have managed to name all the parishes and towns in Norwich North, which are, of cours...

They sound like lovely parishes. I could also mention Norden, Bamford, Castleton, Heywood and Mid...

Don’t go away.

I will not.

May I close this unusual contribution to the end of a Bill’s proceedings by also noting how wonde...

I believe York Outer is the last one. Let me now put the Question.

Question put and agreed ...

I will not suspend the House, because I trust that hon. Members will leave quietly in the right d...