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Scottish Parliament: Elections

My right honourable friend the Secretary of State for Scotland (Des Browne) has made the following Written Ministerial Statement. I am launching today a consultation exercise on proposals and recommendations arising from the Electoral Commission review, led by the independent expert Mr Ron Gould, into the conduct of elections to the Scottish Parliament in May 2007. In my Oral Statement to the House on 23 October, when Mr Gould published his report, I accepted immediately the five core recommendations, which taken together will have a direct beneficial impact on the experience of voters at future elections to the Scottish Parliament. I confirmed to the House in my October Statement that a number of other recommendations in the report would require wide-ranging consultation with outside interests, including those responsible for the administrative conduct of elections in Scotland. At the same time, I stressed the importance of engaging with voters in these matters and will be seeking through the consultation exercise to reach as many as possible by both formal and informal means. The paper is being sent directly to all MPs with Scottish constituencies and copies have been placed in the Libraries of both Houses. I hope that as many honourable Members as possible will take the opportunity to let me have views on the points raised for consultation, as well as any other relevant comments on ways of improving, particularly for the voter, these elections. The consultation exercise will run to early March 2008 and I hope to publish a formal response to the Gould report, taking full account of views submitted during the consultation process, shortly thereafter. The Gould report also made a number of proposals relevant to the conduct of local authority elections in Scotland. These are a matter for the Scottish Executive to determine.