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Local Elections (Ordinary Day of Elections in 2009) Order 2008

My Lords, I think that I detected some support for the order. My heart rose when I heard the noble Earl’s first few sentences, but it sank progressively as he listed his complaints. I shall deal with them and leave the issues regarding Cornwall to the last. Given this momentous day for global democracy, particularly regarding the extraordinary situation in the United States, this order is appropriate. We may be discussing elections in a modest way in this Chamber, but at least we are part of the dialogue, which is extremely appropriate today. I shall deal first with the questions of the noble Earl, who started by asking about the casual vacancies and the seven-month period. I cannot improve too much on what my honourable friend said in the other place. I apologise for referring to the House as the Committee on occasions during my opening remarks. Those references were left over from the Planning Bill. I know that the House is very much resumed. The point is that returning officers need clarity as to when the period starts during which casual vacancies do not need to be filled. The date will be 7 November, whether the election is held in May or June. In the other place, my honourable friend said that political parties, returning officers and electoral administration officers already had November in mind as the cut-off date for casual vacancies. When proposing to move the elections back, we had to decide whether to move the cut-off point back as well, or to maintain the existing deadline. It seemed sensible to stick to the latter, because people were already familiar with it. That approach was taken when we combined the elections in 2004; therefore, there is a precedent. The decision provides certainty, not just for returning officers, but for everyone concerned with managing the election and participating in it, including the political parties. I hope that that answers the point made by the noble Lord, Lord Teverson. The noble Earl raised various issues relating to process, including postal voting. Each local authority will deal with postal votes in its own area. This time there will be no all-postal elections; thereby, only a proportion of votes will be cast by post. We expect that in all areas most votes will be cast in the traditional manner at polling stations on election day. The noble Earl probably knows that we have put in place many safeguards against postal voting fraud, which will meet his concerns. The noble Earl was right about the ballot papers being separated by different colours. The noble Lord, Lord Greaves, was equally right to say that people are sophisticated enough to deal with that. There will be clear instructions and the ballot papers will be in different colours. On the question of spoilt ballot papers, in Scotland in May 2007 there was some confusion due to the combination of polls, the mix of voting systems, whether to put a cross or a tick, and so on. We have learned from that. Separate ballot papers and clear instructions will be utilised to avoid confusion, and I am sure that we will be in a better position. I understand noble Lords’ concerns about the local elections in Cornwall and on what basis they will be held. It might be worth putting on the record how the situation has evolved during the past two months. The Boundary Committee wrote to Cornwall County Council on 15 August 2008 to inform it that an order setting out the electoral arrangements for the new unitary Cornwall council would not be made by the Electoral Commission in time for the new arrangements to be implemented on the ordinary day of elections in 2009. That would potentially mean that an election to the new unitary Cornwall council would take place in 2009 on the basis of the number of councillors and the electoral divisions of the old county council, as the noble Lord, Lord Teverson, said. It is disappointing, but there is no point in naming and shaming at this stage. It is important to focus on achieving credibility and democratic legitimacy for the new local government arrangements in Cornwall. We must ensure that the new council is a success. Those principles underlie our discussions with Cornish members and the affected authorities. We have spoken to the chair of the Electoral Commission, who, while focusing on ensuring that the democratic legitimacy of the new council is achieved as soon as possible, needs to ensure that the commission and the Boundary Committee follow the proper and appropriate statutory processes and procedures. Following that discussion, the commission has written to the department, setting out its intended timetable. It appears that the earliest that the commission expects to make an order to establish the new electoral arrangements would be at the end of August 2009. That would suggest that the earliest that an election could be held would be late October. The Minister for Local Government in the other place has indicated that he is minded to bring a draft order, for consideration by the House in due course, seeking to move the date of the election in Cornwall to October 2009. It is very important that we consult those affected in Cornwall and take further soundings as to the appropriate election date. It is important that we take advice from councillors, parties and everyone interested regarding the confirmation of our approach. We have been in close consultation to date and we will continue that. We will do the very best that we can to ensure that the process is credible, although we understand the frustration. The noble Lord, Lord Teverson, asked what would happen in the interim regarding the districts. This matter applies to other unitary authorities in the same position as Cornwall—Shropshire and Wiltshire, for example. In deciding to move the date of the local government elections, we are aware that that will extend the interim period between when the new authorities are established and the elections. On 1 April 2009, all the councils to be abolished, as approved by Parliament earlier in the year, will cease to exist. Their councillors will cease to hold office. Any councillors of abolished authorities who currently sit on the implementation or shadow executives—the bodies responsible for the transition to the new authorities—will continue to be full members of those executives. In all areas except central Bedfordshire, where the appointed executive that has been leading preparations will become the executive of the new council on 1 April, decisions will need to be taken locally about who will be responsible for the discharge of executive functions for the new council until the election. That will be either the implementation executive or the existing executive of the successor councils. So these decisions are to be made locally. In order to ensure that there is no perceptible fall-off in the performance of statutory functions during the intervening period, we will shortly be making regulations allowing the new unitary councils to co-opt, where appropriate, some members of outgoing district councils on to the committees of the new councils that exercise licensing or planning functions up until the election. So we have put in place clear transitional arrangements with which everyone is familiar and which they have been working through. The noble Lords, Lord Greaves and Lord Teverson, argued that this should be put in legislation so that it happens every time that European elections takes place. We debated this point during the passage of the 2000 Act. At that time, it was argued that it was right that Parliament should be able to consider whether the change should be made in each year that the European elections were due to take place. So there are different opinions about this and different potential merits in the arguments. The noble Earl, Lord Cathcart, referred to Devon, Norfolk and Suffolk. The order will move the 2009 election date for those county councils in the way that I have described. I shall not anticipate the debate that we will have when the Boundary Committee reports. We have asked it to advise us of its proposals by 31 December 2008, and we will have that debate when it does so. The noble Lord, Lord Greaves, asked specifically how parish elections will be affected. The order will move the ordinary day of elections, which will mean that all parish council elections will take place on 4 June 2009. The order creating the new parishes in Restormel provides for elections on the ordinary day of elections, which, again, is 4 June. We are consulting people in Cornwall on the most appropriate local election date, and we will seek views on whether parish elections should also be moved. Our current view is that they should be held in June. I do not know whether the noble Lord, Lord Greaves, asked me the question that we discussed outside the Chamber concerning the arrangements for returning officers.