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European Parliamentary Elections (Amendment) Regulations 2009

I stand corrected, my Lords. It is still a pretty awful system. The noble Lord may remember my late friend Lord Mackay of Ardbrecknish and his long arguments against the closed lists that the Government were imposing on us. At the time, I was Chief Whip and I remember saying privately to my late friend, when he talked about the evils of the closed list, that it might be a Chief Whip’s dream in terms of party management but not quite the most democratic way to select the people who are to represent us in Europe or, for that matter, in any other election that the Government choose to put before us. I hope that that will provide the Minister with sufficient questions to answer, and that his voice will bear out for the remainder of this afternoon.