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Primary Elections

Answer

[holding answer 31 January 2011]: The Government have not made a detailed assessment of the cost of funding the all-postal primaries, and no decisions have yet been taken on how funds would be allocated to political parties or administered.I have not held discussions with representatives of political parties on this issue and have not undertaken any formal consultation on the proposal. To date, no expressions of interest have been received in holding all-postal primaries, although I have received correspondence and parliamentary questions requesting further information on the Government's proposals.The Government have embarked on a major programme of constitutional reform, including the introduction of the Parliamentary Voting System and Constituencies (PVSC) Bill which provides for a referendum to be held on the voting system for the House of Commons and for a review of constituency boundaries in order to create fewer and more equally sized constituencies. The Government's proposals for a boundary review under the PVSC Bill—where the number of MPs will be reduced from 650 to 600—will have particular implications for all-postal primaries which we will need to consider. I would highlight the point made by the Boundary Commissions Secretaries when they appeared before the Political and Constitutional Reform Select Committee that all seats (with the exception of the constituencies of Orkney and Shetland and Na h-Eileanan an Iar) are likely to be affected by the boundary review. As a consequence, far fewer will meet the criteria set out in the coalition programme.We will consider how best to take forward the proposal concerning all-postal primaries in light of these other significant changes impacting upon our electoral process.

Secondary information

Type

Written question

Reference

37009; 522 c766-7W

Session

2010-12

Subjects

Primary elections

Link

View this Written question on www.publications.parliament.uk