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Parliamentary Voting System and Constituencies Bill

My Lords, once again I thank noble Lords who have participated in this debate on what is an important issue, as has been recognised many times during the passage of the Bill through your Lordships’ House. I start by picking up the points made by both the noble Lord, Lord Pannick, and my noble and learned friend Lord Mackay of Clashfern with regard to the lengthy delays in responding both to the report from the Political and Constitutional Reform Committee in the other place and to your Lordships’ Constitution Committee. I am not in a position to offer any explanation, but I do recognise that the time that was taken cannot have assisted either House and I therefore wish to apologise. Responding to the point made by my noble and learned friend, I will certainly take it upon myself personally to make sure that the comments made in your Lordships’ House—and indeed I will reflect the force of them too—will be conveyed to colleagues. It has been argued that the role of the House in asking the other place to think again, and indeed in asking the Government to think again, has been well discharged in respect of these amendments. As has been acknowledged, the Government did engage to see whether there were ways in which we could find common ground and indeed there has been an opportunity for consideration in the other House. However, before inviting the House to send the amendments back again for further consideration, it is important that we perhaps reflect as to what this supreme constitutional principle that we are asking the other place to think about is. Is it just 2.5 per cent? One of the principles of the Bill, referred to by my noble friend Lord King of Bridgwater, is that of equal votes—one vote one value—as best we can throughout the United Kingdom. That is an important principle and one we believe is reflected in the Bill and which, bar the two issues that are now outstanding, has been accepted by both Houses. It is not slavish arithmetic, as I sought to explain. The 5 per cent variation, which gives 10 per cent in all, was not just conjured up—indeed my noble friend thought that it should have been lower than that. In response to the question from the noble Lord, Lord Butler of Brockwell, we believe that the 5 per cent is the closest we can get to achieving equality in the weight of a vote—I am repeating myself but it is important to do so—and an equal say for voters in the outcome of a general election while allowing the Boundary Commission for England to continue its practice of using wards as the building blocks of constituencies in England. I remind the House that the wards themselves are drawn up with local factors in mind. The contribution of the now much quoted Professor Johnston, in his first session before the Political and Constitutional Reform Select Committee, noted that much local political activity and engagement was based on the ward structure. Crucially, the secretary to the Boundary Commission for England, in his evidence to that committee, said that under the rules in the Bill it would be possible to allocate constituencies using wards in the majority of cases. I did say, in my opening remarks, that an absolute prohibition on splitting wards would not be appropriate because there are some places—Birmingham is a case in point—where some wards are so large that it might not be possible not to split them. In these cases, the wards may even be so large that it might make more sense for local communities for them to be broken up to get a more readily identifiable sense of community. The basic point is that in the vast majority of cases it is believed that wards will be the building blocks for the constituencies in England. That is why the 5 per cent was chosen. We have yet to hear, with all due respect, a rationale for 7.5 per cent. I have sought to explain why 5 per cent is right and why there is a rationale behind it, but we have not yet heard a clear rationale for 7.5 per cent. Another principle here is the one that the noble Baroness, Lady Finlay of Llandaff, mentioned when she said that we have departed from it. We have done so in three cases—in Orkney and Shetland, the Western Isles and the Isle of Wight. However, Parliament has decided that those should be exceptions to the principle. That is the proper way to go about it. We are trying to get the fundamental principle of equality of votes. When there are to be exceptions, they should be specified by Parliament; otherwise, we believe that we can operate within 5 per cent, giving the Boundary Commissions sufficient flexibility. The other point of principle, mentioned by my noble friend Lord King of Bridgwater and my noble and learned friend Lord Mackay of Clashfern, is one of time. On a number of occasions—too many even to remember—we have talked about the importance of trying to get this legislation through, with a Boundary Commission that can report by 1 October 2013, so that the general election to be fought in May 2015 would be fought on new boundaries. If that does not happen, in respect of England, the boundaries on which that general election would be fought would be ones determined by the Boundary Commission based on the electorate in the year 2000, and therefore 15 years out of date. Since the House passed this amendment last week, Professor Johnston appeared again before the Political and Constitutional Reform Committee in the other place. He was asked by the chair: "““But in fact, am I right in assessing that what you are saying is that the combination of the change from the 5% to 7.5%, plus the local hearings amendment, plus the time constraints, and plus the possibility of judicial review that follows on from those two amendments means that that combination could be fatal to the Bill?””." Professor Johnston said: "““Well, it couldn’t be fatal to the Bill. It could be fatal to the implementation of the Bill within the deadline of 1 October 2013””." That was the evidence given by Professor Johnston last Thursday to the committee in the other place. If it is a matter of principle that we should be asking the other place to consider, there is an important principle, which we have now accepted, that the next election should be fought on up-to-date boundaries and on the principle of equality of votes. On that basis, I invite your Lordships to reject the amendment proposed by the noble Lord, Lord Pannick.