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Parliamentary Voting System and Constituencies Bill

My Lords, that was a kind and generous invitation from the noble and learned Lord, Lord Falconer of Thoroton, but one that I shall have to resist—and therefore I shall disappoint him. However, I shall try to explain why and give some coherence to this debate, which has been an interesting one, because this issue goes to the core of the disagreement that has taken place over this Bill. The noble Lord, Lord Wills, must wake up every morning kicking himself that he did not set up this inquiry when he was a Minister a year or two ago, because now we would be anticipating its results. Maybe he did try to set it up and maybe he could tell us a bit about that when he comes to wind up. The main accusation being made by noble Lords opposite is not so much that we are rigging the system as that the proposals raise a suspicion that we are rigging the system. Yet nobody can bring any evidence to bear that that would be the likely effects of what we are trying to do—either reducing the number of seats or reaching an equalisation in the number of voters in each seat. The amendment would require a committee of inquiry to conduct a wide-ranging review not only of the structure of our electoral institutions and processes but of how they interrelate. The Government have accepted the argument made by noble Lords that consideration of the impact of a House of 600 seats is important. I know that the noble and learned Lord rather pooh-poohed it, but when we get to that matter, I shall explain why I believe that it is the right way in which to look at it. Why have we done it as we have? It is because we should not allow this issue to prevent a boundary review taking place, leading to boundaries that are as much as 20 years out of date if a review does not report before the next general election. I know that the noble Lord does not intend to delay the review, but it is still clear that accepting this amendment and setting up this new inquiry could not be fitted into the timetable to allow a boundary review to take place in time for the next election. That in itself creates a new partisan suspicion that the noble Lord does not wish that boundary review to take place before the next general election, because there would be a three-year deadline to report, six months to draft measures giving effect to recommendations, the time needed to legislate and then the time for the Boundary Commission to carry out its reviews on the basis of whatever rules are agreed by the committee of inquiry. That would take it beyond this Parliament. We are still of the view that the amendment’s attempt to balance the effect of almost every electoral procedure against every other one is a most difficult task at best and very likely unachievable. The chances of gaining consensus on any magic formula that resulted would be unlikely. That is why I think that the noble and learned Lord was hard on my noble friend Lord Renton, with all his experience in another place and here of seeing royal commissions operating in practice. I also think that my noble friend’s main contention was right. Why should not Parliament, as it has done before, be able to reform itself in this manner? In 1944, the Speaker’s Conference recommended that electoral equality across the constituencies of the UK should be an overriding principle, and we should allow the Boundary Commissions to commence that work without delay. The arguments about whether 600 is the right number of seats should also not delay the boundary review. Issues such as the use of population in the boundary review have been debated at length in the course of the Bill’s passage, and various good points have been made. No doubt, it is something that Parliament will wish to come back to in the longer term. The proposals set out in the Bill are sensible, practicable and, in the words of the British Academy report, their implementation, "““should ensure a set of constituencies that are much more equal””," than at present. We have accepted the case for a post-legislative review, but the inequalities and unfairnesses that would be caused if this review was delayed mean that we should not conduct an inquiry prior to the commissions commencing their task. It is unnecessary to have a review that is so comprehensive that it sees the size of the House of Lords and the choice of local government election boundaries as a matter that would all have to be decided together. I am sure that I have not given the noble Lord the satisfaction that he would like, but it is the best answer that we can give him. I hope that in withdrawing his amendment he will give us an insight into the thinking of the last Government on these issues.