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Debate on bill on Tuesday, 15 February 2011, in the House of Commons.

Parliamentary Voting System and Constituencies Bill

Parliamentary Voting System and Constituencies Bill. Money resolution (No. 2) debate. Queen's recommendation signified. Agreed on question. Programme motion (No. 5) on consideration of Lords amendments and Lords messages agreed on division (312 to 240). Consideration of Lords amendments. Lords amendments 2-7, 9-15, 18 and 21-104 agreed, with Commons financial privileges waived in respect of Lords amendment 31. Lords amendment 16 disagreed on division (317 to 250). Lords amendment 19 disagreed on division (320 to 249). Lords amendment 17 disagreed. Lords amendment 20 disagreed on division (311 to 244). Lords amendments (a) to (e) in lieu of Lords amendments 17 and 20 agreed on division (318 to 233). Lords amendment 1 disagreed on division (317 to 247). Committee appointed to draw up reasons to be assigned to the Lords for disagreeing to their amendments 16, 19, 1 and 8. Reasons reported and agreed. To be communicated to the Lords.

Secondary information

Type
Parliamentary proceeding
Reference
523 c829-912 
Session
2010-12
Department
Cabinet Office
Legislative stage
Lords amendments
Procedure
Timetabling of bills
Money resolutions
Queen's recommendation
Chamber / Committee
House of Commons chamber
Related items
Proceeding contributions
Sarah Newton | 523 c843 (Link to this contribution) I strongly welcome these amendments, because it is vital that people's voices are heard, especially ...
Tristram Hunt | 523 c842 (Link to this contribution) In evidence to the Political and Constitutional Affairs Committee, we heard last week from Professor...
Show all contributions (256)
Lord Harper | 523 c842 (Link to this contribution) The Government accept the argument, and accepted it in the other place, that we should have a proces...
Lord Harper | 523 c842 (Link to this contribution) Let me just answer the hon. Gentleman's point first. Then, I shall try to take points from Members a...
Stephen Williams | 523 c842 (Link to this contribution) I was also at the Select Committee hearing with Professor Johnston of Bristol university to which th...
Lord Harper | 523 c842 (Link to this contribution) I am grateful to my hon. Friend, whose argument holds a great deal of water, because that is broadly...
Lord Harper | 523 c843 (Link to this contribution) I thank my hon. Friend for making that point. It is obviously not for the Government to tell the bou...
Lord Harper | 523 c841 (Link to this contribution) I am happy to take interventions, but let me at least answer the right hon. Gentleman first. Then, o...
Lord Harper | 523 c840-1 (Link to this contribution) There is a general acceptance in the other place, not only among Conservative peers and those suppor...
Ian Lucas | 523 c841 (Link to this contribution) Community councils in my constituency have discussed the removal of the right to make oral represent...
Lord Harper | 523 c840 (Link to this contribution) On the hon. Gentleman's first point, he knows as well as I do, and the view is shared by everyone in...
Thomas Docherty | 523 c840 (Link to this contribution) The Minister has made the outrageous claim that there was filibustering. I attended the debates seve...
Lord Harper | 523 c841 (Link to this contribution) On the right hon. Gentleman's first point, which is that public hearings are different from the old ...
Lord Harper | 523 c841 (Link to this contribution) The hon. Gentleman raises the issue of people's ability to have their say in person. Such provision ...
Lord Murphy of Torfaen | 523 c841 (Link to this contribution) I do not agree that the proposals before us are anything like proper inquiries, but let us assume th...
Lord Harper | 523 c842 (Link to this contribution) We will get on to the Isle of Wight in due course, but the hon. Gentleman's colleagues in the other ...
Speaker | 523 c839 (Link to this contribution) With this it will be convenient to consider the following: Lords amendments 3 to 7, 9 to 15, 18 and...
Lord Harper | 523 c839-40 (Link to this contribution) It is no secret that the Bill has received extensive and lengthy debate both in this House and in th...
Albert Owen | 523 c840 (Link to this contribution) I do not agree with the Minister that there was ample time to discuss the matter in this House; the ...
Chris Bryant | 523 c834 (Link to this contribution) On a point of order, Mr Deputy Speaker. I gather that the Division bell did not go off in the Jubile...
Speaker | 523 c834 (Link to this contribution) I will ask Attendants to check the Division bells in the Jubilee Room. If they continue not to work,...
Speaker | 523 c839 (Link to this contribution) I must draw the House's attention to the fact that financial privilege is involved in Lords amendmen...
Lord Harper | 523 c839 (Link to this contribution) I beg to move, That this House agrees with Lords amendment 2.
Speaker | 523 c833 (Link to this contribution) I do not believe the right hon. Gentleman is giving way. I think he has completed his speech. Is tha...
David Winnick | 523 c833 (Link to this contribution) I recognise, as do we all, I am sure, that this referendum measure is before us because of the coali...
Chris Bryant | 523 c849 (Link to this contribution) My right hon. Friend is absolutely right. In addition, there are some specific concerns. For example...
Lord Murphy of Torfaen | 523 c849 (Link to this contribution) My hon. Friend is making a powerful case for boundary inquiries. My constituency was preserved 27 ye...
Chris Bryant | 523 c849 (Link to this contribution) It might be that the Conservative party lost because it did not advance good arguments, which goes b...
Bernard Jenkin | 523 c849 (Link to this contribution) One of the reasons for my losing faith in the old system of public inquiries is that, for all the ar...
Chris Bryant | 523 c850 (Link to this contribution) If the hon. Lady does not mind, I ought to make a little progress. One other significant problem wi...
Lord Harper | 523 c850 (Link to this contribution) The hon. Gentleman just said something that simply is not true. He said that no one will weigh up th...
Chris Bryant | 523 c850 (Link to this contribution) Lord Pannick made similar points to the ones I just made. He said:"““It is absolutely inevitable tha...
Baroness Laing of Elderslie | 523 c851 (Link to this contribution) I am sure the hon. Gentleman realises that his answer to my hon. Friend the Member for Harwich and N...
Chris Bryant | 523 c851 (Link to this contribution) Large parts of the Bill are not sufficiently precise, and the Opposition have tabled amendments to i...
Graham Stringer | 523 c851 (Link to this contribution) Is not the problem with the process that, in principle, after the public hearing, the High Court jud...
Lord Harper | 523 c847 (Link to this contribution) I want to make it clear that we have appointed a number of peers, but that a number of them in the r...
Chris Bryant | 523 c847 (Link to this contribution) I am not going to give way to the Minister on that point, because I know what he is going to say—tha...
Chris Bryant | 523 c847 (Link to this contribution) The hon. Gentleman sometimes suffers from amnesia himself. I was talking about guillotines in the Lo...
Alec Shelbrooke | 523 c848 (Link to this contribution) Will the hon. Gentleman define ““local people””? Is he talking about unelected local people, local c...
Chris Bryant | 523 c847-8 (Link to this contribution) The Minister knows perfectly well that the Government are getting very close to the stage at which t...
Chris Bryant | 523 c848 (Link to this contribution) I mean all those. There is an important distinction, which, as my hon. Friend the Member for Stoke-o...
David Winnick | 523 c849 (Link to this contribution) The Minister said that public inquiries are discredited—we obviously disagree with that. However, is...
Chris Bryant | 523 c849 (Link to this contribution) Much as I would love to agree with my hon. Friend, I recall previous comments: when people lost the ...
Daniel Kawczynski | 523 c849 (Link to this contribution) The hon. Gentleman is being cynical. If the people of Acton Burnell, who are in my constituency, wis...
Chris Bryant | 523 c849 (Link to this contribution) I am impressed by the hon. Gentleman and I am sure that all views expressed by anybody in his consti...
Lord Harper | 523 c845 (Link to this contribution) The hon. Gentleman obliquely raises the issue of the number of Ministers. He knows that we have been...
Lord Harper | 523 c845-6 (Link to this contribution) This debate also took place in the other place and it was content with our proposals. I do not wish ...
William Cash | 523 c844 (Link to this contribution) Would my hon. Friend be interested to know that some of us are beginning to think, in the light of t...
Lord Harper | 523 c844 (Link to this contribution) I will give way to my hon. Friend and then to the hon. Gentleman.
David Winnick | 523 c845 (Link to this contribution) There will be an interesting debate on thresholds in due course. On the numbers, is the Minister sur...
Lord Harper | 523 c844-5 (Link to this contribution) Mr Deputy Speaker, you would not expect me to be tempted to debate the threshold now, because we wil...
Thomas Docherty | 523 c846 (Link to this contribution) Going back to the point that the Minister made as he rattled through that list, and to the debate th...
Lord Harper | 523 c846 (Link to this contribution) In response to that debate, which—from memory—was about whether to include in the Bill a power to di...
Chris Bryant | 523 c846-7 (Link to this contribution) I am afraid I completely disagree with the Minister's interpretation of events over the past few mon...
Daniel Kawczynski | 523 c847 (Link to this contribution) The hon. Gentleman seems to be suffering from a certain amount of amnesia. When his party was in off...
Charles Walker | 523 c844 (Link to this contribution) Does my hon. Friend agree that it seems strange to many Members across the House that we are reducin...
Lord Harper | 523 c843-4 (Link to this contribution) I will be happy to take interventions when I have made a little more progress. I think that the Hous...
Lord Harper | 523 c843 (Link to this contribution) When the boundary commissions decide to hold their public hearings, they will of course publicise th...
Joan Walley | 523 c843 (Link to this contribution) Given that not all of us have been party to all the debates in the other place, can the Minister tel...
Lord Harper | 523 c843 (Link to this contribution) I think that the hon. Member for Stoke-on-Trent North (Joan Walley) has first dibs.
Lord Harper | 523 c844 (Link to this contribution) My hon. Friend makes what would be a good point if it were not for the coalition Government's clear ...
William Cash | 523 c898 (Link to this contribution) This is an electoral reform proposal in which we are asking the electorate to decide in a referendum...
Lord Harper | 523 c898 (Link to this contribution) No, I think that the decision should ultimately be made by the elected House, which is why I will as...
Lord Jackson of Peterborough | 523 c898 (Link to this contribution) Does the Minister acknowledge, as we are facing a considerable and potentially irreversible constitu...
Lord Harper | 523 c899 (Link to this contribution) In that case, it was not proposed by the Government, so I do not think that that makes the case. The...
Christopher Chope | 523 c899 (Link to this contribution) My hon. Friend says that he wants this matter to be decided by this House, but would not that be the...
Lord Harper | 523 c899 (Link to this contribution) No, because it is more important to allow the people to decide. The coalition wants to enable the pu...
Angus Brendan MacNeil | 523 c899 (Link to this contribution) The Minister is absolutely right to say that the 40% turnout threshold for the referendum in Scotlan...
Lord Harper | 523 c899 (Link to this contribution) The hon. Gentleman is right. One of the most convincing arguments was heard in our previous debates ...
Jack Straw | 523 c899-900 (Link to this contribution) This whole argument is against a motion that was not passed in the other place. It is against one th...
Speaker | 523 c900 (Link to this contribution) In fairness, many Members want to contribute to the debate. Can we please come to the end of the que...
Lord Harper | 523 c900 (Link to this contribution) No, I do not agree with the right hon. Gentleman. The Government are simply trying to ensure that th...
Jack Straw | 523 c900 (Link to this contribution) In those other circumstances, the House would surely think again. Is that not a very sensible way of...
Lord Harper | 523 c900-1 (Link to this contribution) I will take your injunction as implicitly indicating that I should give way to fewer of them. On th...
Bernard Jenkin | 523 c900 (Link to this contribution) I echo the point made by the right hon. Member for Blackburn (Mr Straw) that the amendment only requ...
Speaker | 523 c900 (Link to this contribution) Let me be quite honest: a number of Members are still seeking to catch my eye, so we need shorter in...
Lord Harper | 523 c901 (Link to this contribution) Given that my hon. Friend is the acting Chairman of the Select Committee, I will give way to her.
Lord Harper | 523 c901 (Link to this contribution) Let me make a little more progress. There are some technical and practical deficiencies, some of wh...
Speaker | 523 c897 (Link to this contribution) With this it will be convenient to consider amendment (a) and Lords amendment 8.
Lord Harper | 523 c897-8 (Link to this contribution) The first amendment to be moved on Report in the other place by the noble Lord Rooker and agreed to ...
Lord Whitehead | 523 c888-9 (Link to this contribution) I want briefly to reflect the view from the other side of the Solent. I congratulate the hon. Member...
Lord Harper | 523 c897 (Link to this contribution) I beg to move, That this House disagrees with Lords amendment 1.
Albert Owen | 523 c888 (Link to this contribution) It is a great pleasure to follow a fellow islander in this debate. I supported the Isle of Wight exc...
William Cash | 523 c898 (Link to this contribution) Does the Minister not think that it might be a little shameless to leave the House of Lords to discu...
Paul Farrelly | 523 c898 (Link to this contribution) My next-door neighbour, the hon. Member for Stone (Mr Cash), is often very wise, and I have had the ...
Lord Harper | 523 c898 (Link to this contribution) I shall treat the first part of the hon. Gentleman's remarks as political posturing and nonsense tha...
William Cash | 523 c906 (Link to this contribution) I will not give way. I say that for a very simple reason, which is that when this House votes to pa...
William Cash | 523 c906 (Link to this contribution) Last night, Lord Rooker, to whom I pay great tribute, said that his amendment required tweaking, whi...
Angus Brendan MacNeil | 523 c907 (Link to this contribution) I shall take full advantage of the remaining 30 seconds— Four hours having elapsed since the commen...
Mark Durkan | 523 c907 (Link to this contribution) The hon. Gentleman makes a very good point. People might have a variety of reasons for not voting, s...
Angus Brendan MacNeil | 523 c907 (Link to this contribution) If the threshold were accepted, would that mean that if neither the first-past-the-post nor the AV s...
Chris Bryant | 523 c903 (Link to this contribution) I am happy to give way to the hon. Gentleman, although there is very little time and he voted for th...
Chris Bryant | 523 c903 (Link to this contribution) The Minister's last few words were something of a giveaway. He suddenly introduced a threshold of hi...
Lord Harper | 523 c903 (Link to this contribution) We have already discussed what constitutes the appropriate level of turnout, and the issue arises co...
David Winnick | 523 c902 (Link to this contribution) There may well be a 40% turnout, but the turnout could be higher. Who knows? It will depend greatly ...
Lord Harper | 523 c902 (Link to this contribution) I will take one more intervention from the hon. Gentleman.
Lord Harper | 523 c902 (Link to this contribution) My hon. Friend has made a number of points. Let me say first that I did not rely on the technical ar...
James Gray | 523 c902 (Link to this contribution) The Minister rests his argument on technicalities, which no doubt the Government could sort out by t...
Lord Harper | 523 c901-2 (Link to this contribution) My hon. Friend is quite right. I was just coming on to the point that there is also the question of ...
Baroness Laing of Elderslie | 523 c901 (Link to this contribution) It is in my capacity as acting Chairman of the Select Committee that I wish to make this point. The ...
Stephen Williams | 523 c905 (Link to this contribution) I am about to stop to allow others to get in. Bristol's turnout is traditionally higher than that of...
Jack Straw | 523 c906 (Link to this contribution) Like my hon. Friend the Member for Rhondda (Chris Bryant), I am a supporter of the alternative vote ...
Stephen Williams | 523 c905 (Link to this contribution) I will be as brief as possible, as I know that many Members want to speak. My basic point is that w...
Chris Bryant | 523 c904-5 (Link to this contribution) The hon. Gentleman makes a very good point. That was why I was opposed to the versions of thresholds...
Alan Reid | 523 c904 (Link to this contribution) I ask the hon. Gentleman to cast his mind back to 1979, when we had a Scottish referendum under the ...
Chris Bryant | 523 c905 (Link to this contribution) As the hon. Gentleman knows, I am very grateful to be called distinguished about anything, but I do ...
Jacob Rees-Mogg | 523 c905 (Link to this contribution) The hon. Gentleman is a distinguished constitutionalist, and I wonder whether he thinks that in the ...
Chris Bryant | 523 c904 (Link to this contribution) No, I am not saying that at all, but that referendum was not an implementing referendum; nor was it ...
Stephen Williams | 523 c904 (Link to this contribution) No threshold was involved in the referendum to create the National Assembly for Wales in the summer ...
Chris Bryant | 523 c904 (Link to this contribution) No, that is not true. [Interruption.] Yes, it is interesting to hear an argument for consistency fro...
Angus Brendan MacNeil | 523 c904 (Link to this contribution) Is the hon. Gentleman really saying, ““These are my principles on referendums, but I don't like them...
Tristram Hunt | 523 c887 (Link to this contribution) In a perfect world, would the hon. Gentleman be in favour of a single Member or two Members for the ...
Andrew Turner | 523 c887 (Link to this contribution) That is correct, but I would not use the word ““international””. Although opinion was divided on wh...
Andrew Turner | 523 c887-8 (Link to this contribution) I am in favour of whatever is voted for by the island. I admit that I felt a twinge of sadness at t...
Lord Harper | 523 c859-60 (Link to this contribution) I understand why the hon. Gentleman raises this point: it is an issue in Cornwall, where a number of...
Mark Durkan | 523 c860 (Link to this contribution) Is it not the case that clause 11 provides for constituencies in Northern Ireland to not conform to ...
Lord Harper | 523 c859 (Link to this contribution) My hon. Friend mentioned the number of votes. It is true that if someone genuinely resides in more t...
Andrew George | 523 c859 (Link to this contribution) May I clarify a point? As the Minister said, we have debated the issue before. Does he mean ““reside...
Lord Harper | 523 c858 (Link to this contribution) The Bill does not change the process of using the registered electorate data—which are the best that...
Lord Harper | 523 c858 (Link to this contribution) No. I am not entirely certain what argument the hon. Gentleman is trying to make, and I suspect that...
Baroness Laing of Elderslie | 523 c859 (Link to this contribution) The argument advanced by the hon. Member for Bassetlaw (John Mann) does not hold water at all. First...
Lord Harper | 523 c858 (Link to this contribution) I will give way to the hon. Gentleman once more, but then I must make some progress.
Lord Mann | 523 c858 (Link to this contribution) The Minister is kindly giving way again, in the interests of good debate. My constituency does not ...
Nigel Adams | 523 c871 (Link to this contribution) My hon. Friend and constituency neighbour refers to Sherburn in Elmet. I assure him that the people ...
Alec Shelbrooke | 523 c871 (Link to this contribution) My problem with Lords amendment 19 is new paragraph 5A(b) of schedule 2 to the Parliamentary Constit...
Lord Murphy of Torfaen | 523 c871 (Link to this contribution) The Union will be weaker as a result, because the Bill will not take into account the various points...
Lord Murphy of Torfaen | 523 c870 (Link to this contribution) In the examples that I have just given, of Welsh-speaking constituencies in Wales, the seats are hel...
Lord Murphy of Torfaen | 523 c870 (Link to this contribution) That extra flexibility allows for the factor that I have just described in Wales and elsewhere to be...
Baroness Laing of Elderslie | 523 c870 (Link to this contribution) The right hon. Gentleman is doing very well, as ever, at putting before the House what appears to be...
Lord Murphy of Torfaen | 523 c870 (Link to this contribution) My hon. Friend is absolutely right, in the sense that the unity of our kingdom is based on the recog...
Lord Harper | 523 c870 (Link to this contribution) I set out from the Government's perspective the reason why we settled on plus or minus 5%—a 10% rang...
Lord Murphy of Torfaen | 523 c869-70 (Link to this contribution) I do not understand why the Government and the Minister are being so rigid and fundamentalist on thi...
Tristram Hunt | 523 c870 (Link to this contribution) Does that not point to a lack of understanding about the nature of the Union? Those balances and ine...
Lord Harper | 523 c881-2 (Link to this contribution) The hon. Gentleman should wait to hear my argument. In the previous debate, Opposition Members made ...
Albert Owen | 523 c881 (Link to this contribution) I represent a distinct island community. Previously, when I supported the Isle of Wight and other co...
Lord Harper | 523 c883 (Link to this contribution) On the hon. Gentleman's point about the views of local people, when I visited the island myself and ...
Lord Whitehead | 523 c882-3 (Link to this contribution) Does the Minister accept that the Boundary Commission has considered the boundaries of the Isle of W...
Lord Harper | 523 c881 (Link to this contribution) My point was that the exemptions were for remote island groups not readily combinable with the mainl...
Lord Harper | 523 c880-1 (Link to this contribution) The amendments concern the effect on the Isle of Wight of the Government's proposals for votes to ha...
Thomas Docherty | 523 c881 (Link to this contribution) I am grateful to the Minister, who is always generous with his—with the House's time. He mentioned t...
Alec Shelbrooke | 523 c871-2 (Link to this contribution) Absolutely. That makes my point entirely. When considering special circumstances and local ties, wou...
Baroness Laing of Elderslie | 523 c872 (Link to this contribution) The amendment cannot stand: first, it is unclear, and it would be wrong for this House to make laws ...
Lord Harper | 523 c880 (Link to this contribution) I beg to move, That this House disagrees with Lords amendment 17.
Speaker | 523 c880 (Link to this contribution) With this it will be convenient to take Lords amendment 20 and Government amendments (a) to (e) in l...
Mark Reckless | 523 c884 (Link to this contribution) We might note the precedent of what the Boundary Commission has done in the past when it has had to ...
Lord Harper | 523 c884 (Link to this contribution) The amendment that was accepted by their lordships' House, which we accept in principle, was support...
Lord Harper | 523 c884-5 (Link to this contribution) I think that my hon. Friend helps my argument. As I said, this is part of the parliamentary process....
Jacob Rees-Mogg | 523 c884 (Link to this contribution) I support the amendments fully, but once the Isle of Wight has been given two seats, the argument fo...
Lord Harper | 523 c884 (Link to this contribution) My hon. Friend is quite right, but it is important for the Boundary Commission to be certain about t...
Tristram Hunt | 523 c883 (Link to this contribution) What is the difference in actual votes between the 76,000 quota and Isle of Wight constituencies of ...
Lord Harper | 523 c883-4 (Link to this contribution) I am sadly not able to do the maths at the Dispatch Box, but we have examined the matter, and what I...
Andrew George | 523 c883 (Link to this contribution) There are, of course, other parts of the country, including Cornwall, where people recognise boundar...
Lord Harper | 523 c883 (Link to this contribution) If the hon. Gentleman will let me finish my argument, which does not have very much—[Interruption.] ...
Speaker | 523 c884 (Link to this contribution) Order. I know that hon. Members feel very strongly about this matter, but persistent heckling really...
Chris Bryant | 523 c886 (Link to this contribution) Absolutely. Some specific geographical issues need to be borne in mind. I am sure that the hon. Gent...
Chris Bryant | 523 c886 (Link to this contribution) I will not, because the hon. Gentleman voted for the programme motion. There is a short time left an...
Chris Bryant | 523 c886 (Link to this contribution) No, I am sure that the hon. Gentleman, too, voted for the programme motion, so I shall not give way....
Mark Reckless | 523 c886 (Link to this contribution) Will the hon. Gentleman give way?
Angus Brendan MacNeil | 523 c887 (Link to this contribution) I would just like to point out that there was some international support from the SNP.
Andrew Turner | 523 c886-7 (Link to this contribution) I had a speech prepared to deliver today, but I do not think that I shall need it; I am using anothe...
Jacob Rees-Mogg | 523 c885 (Link to this contribution) Although the Lords are wonderful guardians of our constitution, the debate has seen any number of pe...
Lord Harper | 523 c885 (Link to this contribution) I think the difference is the strength of view in the other place on the matter. [Interruption.] Tha...
Chris Bryant | 523 c885 (Link to this contribution) I am sorry, but I think that that is the shabbiest speech I have heard from a Conservative Member. T...
Dan Rogerson | 523 c885-6 (Link to this contribution) I wish that the hon. Gentleman could have presented that argument precisely and briefly when the Bil...
Mark Reckless | 523 c862 (Link to this contribution) But surely under the new arrangements we will not be requiring the boundary commissions to aim at eq...
Mark Reckless | 523 c862 (Link to this contribution) I understand why it is thought that the move to the 5% limit is required—to stop the boundary commis...
Lord Harper | 523 c861 (Link to this contribution) Well, it is certainly true that even if we allocate using the Sainte-Laguë method—which is the one w...
Mark Durkan | 523 c860 (Link to this contribution) This stems not from the size of Northern Ireland, but from the problem of fixing—from the fact that ...
Lord Harper | 523 c860 (Link to this contribution) I think we debated this matter at an earlier stage in the House. The reason is very simple: Northern...
Lord Harper | 523 c862 (Link to this contribution) I do not know what the hon. Gentleman means by ““country””, because of course there are four boundar...
Thomas Docherty | 523 c862 (Link to this contribution) I wish to clarify something that I have been asked about several times. Have the Government given an...
Lord Harper | 523 c863 (Link to this contribution) No, we have not. That is not a matter for the Government; it is a job for the boundary commissions a...
Lord Harper | 523 c863 (Link to this contribution) No, the process for allocating the fixed number of seats in the Bill is by country. So the 600 seats...
Thomas Docherty | 523 c863 (Link to this contribution) I am grateful for that clarification. Has the Minister had any discussions about whether the Boundar...
Lord Harper | 523 c862 (Link to this contribution) In Scotland, Wales and Northern Ireland there will be one scheme for the whole area. We have suggest...
Mark Field | 523 c863 (Link to this contribution) Could the Minister clarify the precise situation, because this is slightly confusing? Surely if Engl...
Lord Harper | 523 c863 (Link to this contribution) The hon. Gentleman was asking two questions. On the first, I have not had those discussions with the...
Angus Brendan MacNeil | 523 c863 (Link to this contribution) Have the Government done any theoretical mock-ups of how the arrangements might look starting from t...
Alec Shelbrooke | 523 c867 (Link to this contribution) Will the right hon. Gentleman give way?
Lord Khan of Tooting | 523 c867 (Link to this contribution) I want to make some progress. Democratic Audit, a think-tank attached to the university of Liverpoo...
Lord Harper | 523 c864 (Link to this contribution) I do not agree with my hon. Friend's analysis that if we were conducting a single review across the ...
Mark Field | 523 c864 (Link to this contribution) Does my hon. Friend not appreciate the concern that when we are discussing whether there should be a...
Lord Harper | 523 c864 (Link to this contribution) I can understand why hon. Members are asking me these questions, but these are matters for the bound...
Christopher Pincher | 523 c864 (Link to this contribution) The Minister has mentioned that the Boundary Commission for England will operate using English regio...
Sheryll Murray | 523 c866 (Link to this contribution) Does the right hon. Gentleman share my disappointment and that of my constituents that the Deputy Pr...
Lord Khan of Tooting | 523 c865-6 (Link to this contribution) First, I point out that the Government decided that one hour should be set aside to discuss these am...
Lord Harper | 523 c865 (Link to this contribution) I recall distinctly that we had this debate in the House in the first place. The boundary commission...
Andrew George | 523 c865 (Link to this contribution) Given the nature of some of the questions that the Minister has been asked in the past few minutes, ...
Lord Khan of Tooting | 523 c866-7 (Link to this contribution) I agree with every word the hon. Lady has said. She has sat through many debates in the past few mon...
Andrew George | 523 c869 (Link to this contribution) I am not engaged in special pleading. My constituency is in the bottom left-hand corner and as far a...
Andrew George | 523 c869 (Link to this contribution) I will not give way, because we have only 11 minutes left and I want to finish to allow other Member...
Lord Khan of Tooting | 523 c867 (Link to this contribution) I want to finish my contribution so that others can speak. The wording in Lord Pannick's amendment ...
Andrew George | 523 c867 (Link to this contribution) Will the right hon. Gentleman give way?
Andrew George | 523 c868 (Link to this contribution) I wish to make a few brief remarks on this most inflexible and rigid part of the Bill. The amendment...
Andrew George | 523 c868-9 (Link to this contribution) My hon. Friend is absolutely right, but I think that the inflexibility of the proposals will result ...
Angus Brendan MacNeil | 523 c869 (Link to this contribution) The hon. Gentleman will know that I am a supporter of Cornwall in that argument, and of Isle of Wigh...
Andrew George | 523 c869 (Link to this contribution) Na h-Eileanan an Iar, and Orkney and Shetland. When one considers the geographic arguments for those...
Lord Harper | 523 c855-6 (Link to this contribution) It is worth putting on the record the fact that, as my hon. Friend the Member for Bristol West (Step...
Bernard Jenkin | 523 c855 (Link to this contribution) I agree with my hon. Friend the Member for Broxbourne (Mr Walker) that this whole matter is being ru...
Ian Lucas | 523 c854-5 (Link to this contribution) Absolutely; my hon. Friend makes a powerful point about Northern Ireland, and I can speak for my con...
Lord Harper | 523 c856 (Link to this contribution) The amendment would give the Boundary Commission the discretion to propose constituencies within an ...
Andrew George | 523 c857 (Link to this contribution) As the Minister knows, we have debated this issue many times before, but I have not heard him explai...
Lord Harper | 523 c856 (Link to this contribution) I beg to move, That this House disagrees with Lords amendment 16.
Speaker | 523 c856 (Link to this contribution) With this it will be convenient to discuss Lords amendment 19.
Lord Harper | 523 c857 (Link to this contribution) No, I do not think that it would. The existing process causes a significant variation in the size of...
Lord Mann | 523 c858 (Link to this contribution) The Minister conveniently ignores the fact that in some constituencies, such as those containing a l...
Lord Harper | 523 c857 (Link to this contribution) We have defined the difference. Both constituencies constitute groups of islands which, owing to the...
Andrew George | 523 c857 (Link to this contribution) I would be interested to know why the Government believe that they know best how to divide the count...
Alec Shelbrooke | 523 c851 (Link to this contribution) Will the hon. Gentleman give way?
Lord Harper | 523 c852 (Link to this contribution) That is no different from the existing system, in which those on two electoral registers might get t...
Chris Bryant | 523 c851-2 (Link to this contribution) I will not, if the hon. Gentleman does not mind, because we are on a time-limited debate and I have ...
Chris Bryant | 523 c852 (Link to this contribution) The Minister is being querulous. I was not suggesting that anybody wanted to do that, but there are ...
Charles Walker | 523 c853 (Link to this contribution) I will be extremely brief, because I come here naked, without a formal speech to give. All I would s...
Lord Harper | 523 c853 (Link to this contribution) I will be brief in my intervention, given the time limit. As my hon. Friend has said that he thought...
Charles Walker | 523 c853 (Link to this contribution) I would say to the Minister that we should have shown more foresight in this House, and addressed th...
Ian Lucas | 523 c853-4 (Link to this contribution) Of all the appalling aspects of this piece of legislation, for me the abolition of local public inqu...
Mark Durkan | 523 c854 (Link to this contribution) My hon. Friend is rightly highlighting the implications of this provision for Wales. In the context ...
Lord Mann | 523 c858 (Link to this contribution) This is not just a question of second homes; it is also a question of the presence of students. Some...
Lord Harper | 523 c858 (Link to this contribution) The hon. Gentleman has raised three issues. First, I can tell him that we propose to continue to use...
Lord Redwood | 523 c832 (Link to this contribution) We are debating a money resolution, the whole purpose of which is for the House to exert some contro...
Pete Wishart | 523 c832 (Link to this contribution) Does not the hon. Gentleman share my absolute and utter surprise that neither the Secretary of State...
Thomas Docherty | 523 c832 (Link to this contribution) I fear that in some ways I am not surprised, because we have learned over the last nine months that ...
Lord Harper | 523 c830 (Link to this contribution) It might be helpful if I remind the House that, when the chief electoral officer set out her guidanc...
Chris Bryant | 523 c830 (Link to this contribution) I am grateful to the Minister, but, unfortunately he has not yet replied to my letter of some weeks ...
Baroness Laing of Elderslie | 523 c831 (Link to this contribution) I want to put on record that representatives of the Electoral Commission came before the Political a...
Thomas Docherty | 523 c831-2 (Link to this contribution) I should like to return to the issue raised by my hon. Friend the Member for Rhondda (Chris Bryant),...
Lord Harper | 523 c830-1 (Link to this contribution) The rules for the referendum are set out in the scope of the Bill, but it would not be within its sc...
Chris Bryant | 523 c831 (Link to this contribution) I am sorry, but the Minister's reply is very disappointing. Either he does not understand the law th...
Lord Redwood | 523 c829 (Link to this contribution) Those of us who are worried about the amount of money to be spent on the proposal might be persuaded...
Lord Harper | 523 c829 (Link to this contribution) I can reassure the House that, because of the way the Bill and the amendments are drafted, the chief...
Lord Harper | 523 c829-30 (Link to this contribution) The whole point is that it is not possible to predict every eventuality. The resolution says that if...
Lord Harper | 523 c829 (Link to this contribution) I beg to move,"That, for the purposes of any Act resulting from the Parliamentary Voting System and ...
Lord Harper | 523 c898 (Link to this contribution) I am sorry; I did not quite understand my hon. Friend's point. We debated and voted on his proposal ...
Mark Durkan | 523 c906-7 (Link to this contribution) The hon. Member for Rhondda (Chris Bryant) has referred to the wrecking amendments we debated and vo...
Angus Brendan MacNeil | 523 c870 (Link to this contribution) A couple of moments ago, the right hon. Gentleman said that the Union might become weaker with the p...
Lord Harper | 523 c862 (Link to this contribution) The boundary commissions will have to draw up a scheme of constituencies and they will have examine ...
Speaker | 523 c853 (Link to this contribution) Order. There are about 11 minutes left, so brief speeches would be welcome.
Charles Walker | 523 c833 (Link to this contribution) I agree with my hon. Friend the Member for Epping Forest (Mrs Laing) and the hon. Member for Rhondda...
Lord Harper | 523 c900 (Link to this contribution) Let me make a little more progress. I am conscious that other Members want to contribute and I have ...
Chris Bryant | 523 c830 (Link to this contribution) As the Minister set out, this is a minor money resolution, and we do not have a major problem with i...
Lord Harper | 523 c862 (Link to this contribution) This measure gives boundary commissions the range to be able to take account of issues such as local...
Lord Harper | 523 c863 (Link to this contribution) I have a dazzling range of talent to choose from, but I have not heard yet from the hon. Member for ...
Mark Field | 523 c868 (Link to this contribution) Surely the hon. Gentleman must realise that every major boundary review, including those that took p...
Chris Bryant | 523 c851 (Link to this contribution) My hon. Friend makes a perfect point. He is absolutely right. Someone cannot be judge, jury and appe...
Subjects
Boundary commissions Constituency size Constituencies Alternative vote Elections Inquiries Electoral register Isle of Wight Members Referendums Ministers Voting behaviour Voting methods Wales
Legislation
Parliamentary Voting System and Constituencies Bill 2010-12
Link
View this Parliamentary proceeding on www.publications.parliament.uk