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5.12 pm
Mr. David Trimble (Upper Bann): I beg to move, to leave out from "That" to the end of the Question, and to add instead thereof:
- "this House declines to give a Second Reading to a Bill which unnecessarily introduces a wholly novel electoral system which is not properly thought out, contains unfairness and anomalies by introducing bogus political parties while omitting existing political parties and is complicated and designed to confuse the electorate."
The main provisions in the Bill are for elections and for a forum, in addition to referendums and negotiations. We welcome the provisions for elections. When I say we welcome them, I am referring, of course, to the genuine, authentic Ulster Unionist party, not the bogus Ulster unionist party that the Secretary of State has included in his Bill. The listing of bogus parties in the Bill is part of the reason why we have tabled the reasoned amendment.
The Government have moved, for the reasons that they have mentioned, to introduce an entirely novel electoral system. They had the choice of two systems on the statute book already, but they moved with great haste to introduce another one. List systems are not unusual--most of Europe votes by list systems--so there are list systems that could have been borrowed and used, but we do not even have a proper list system. I am not thinking in terms of the curious features of constituency lists and regional lists, although I shall refer to them again. The essence of a list system, in whatever variation it is adopted, is that it is a system of voting by reference to parties. If one is voting by reference to parties, one must have a clear legal basis for those parties and a form of regulation of the existence of parties and the use of party names. That is what happens in every other list system in the world where they are operated. There are procedures to regulate parties and the use of party names. That is foreign to British electoral law, which does not recognise the existence of parties. The Government have taken a novel step by moving in that direction; they have done so in a cack-handed and ineffective manner, which will cause difficulties.
It is all very well for the Secretary of State to say that it is simple for the elector to put an X against one name. We already have 30-plus names on the list, and that list may by no means be closed, so we will have the opportunity for confusion, particularly as some of the names used are not familiar even to me and my hon. Friends. They involve things that we have not heard of before. It may be that we have been inattentive and that things have come into existence without our appreciating them.
I was a little confused when I saw the name of the No Going Back group, and wondered whether it was the group with a similar name that exists in the Conservative party.
Members of the Liberal Democrat party will appreciate, however, that there is a serious issue involved. If, in the European elections, a significant number of electors--some 10,000 in that case--cast their votes in a way that, in all probability, by far the greater number did not intend because of the similarity of names on a ballot paper that was comparatively short and where the name of the candidate was in clear, bold type and the party name in quite small type, will not the risk of confusion be greater if candidates' names do not appear, although I think that they should, and all we have is a long list of names of parties, many of which will be unfamiliar? That is the problem.
If we are to have a list system, either the Government should introduce a proper statutory scheme for the regulation of parties and the use of party names or, as they said they intended to do when they brought out their first paper, they should have a mechanism to regulate the parties by a statutory list. Having made that suggestion, however, they retreated from it and opened the door to a number of others. The proposed process should be looked at seriously. Because we consider it a matter of considerable importance, we have tabled a reasoned amendment calling for re-examination.
There are a number of possible solutions. I shall not go into all of them now, but the use of deposits could be one way of resolving the problem. When the issue came up originally, it was said that there would be no need for deposits on candidature because there would be statutory regulation of names and only genuine parties would take part. Now, however, independents, or a group of people, who decide to form a political party can put themselves up provided they can find two persons to stand in a particular constituency so as to get them on the constituency list. Those persons will then be entitled to the free postal delivery of election communications. The likelihood is that that will be a considerable temptation--not just to the 30-odd names on the list, but to others as well. It is to restrain people from exploiting the public service in that way that deposits are used in British electoral law. There is every reason to extend the use of deposits to the proposed elections.
Mr. Beith:
May I put it to the hon. Gentleman that someone whose intention was to confuse would be ready to raise the money to do so and invent some variant on the Ulster Unionist party just as the variant Literal Democrat was invented by someone who soon found the money for the deposit?
Mr. Trimble:
I take the right hon. Gentleman's point and I appreciate that my suggestion is not watertight. We need the procedures that exist in countries that use list systems whereby either only those who have statutorily registered names are used or people can challenge the misuse of a name. There would then be some form of judicial process whereby those matters could be resolved. That would be by far the better way to proceed, but time is short.
Mr. Maginnis:
Is it not the case that, as there is a separate election in each constituency, under the right hon. Gentleman's proposal there would be a need for a deposit in each constituency? That would place a considerable burden, over 18 constituencies, on any individual wanting to pervert the course of the election by nominating two people under his name--an independent or whatever it may be--in each constituency.
Mr. Trimble:
My hon. Friend's point is well made: these are the ways in which the deposit requirement could be made effective. It is important for us to look at that.
Mr. Peter Robinson:
Perverting the election in one constituency could have an impact overall, and it is no more acceptable that someone who can raise a deposit for one of the 18 constituencies should get off in that way, as was the case with the Liberal Democrats. Would it not be better if there were a requirement to have a significant number of assentors to the nomination as well as a deposit? We put that proposal to the Northern Ireland Office.
Mr. Trimble:
I thank the hon. Gentleman for that suggestion--it is a good idea. They are the sorts of things that should be done. We should be examining ideas of that nature, and the ones that I have mentioned, as a way of restraining the abuse of the system that has been adopted here. I hope that there will be an openness on the part of the Government, come Monday and Tuesday, to look at this seriously.
By putting forward our proposals, we are not trying to wreck the opportunity that exists for the people of Northern Ireland to express their views at the ballot box--we want elections and we want them to take place in a coherent manner and in a way that will reflect the wishes of the people.
Mr. Michael Connarty (Falkirk, East):
I sympathise with the hon. Gentleman's concerns about the minutiae. Is he aware that, in January, some of us went to observe the elections in Palestine? In the city of Gaza, where I was stationed, the ballot paper contained 92 candidates and people had to make 12 choices. However, 94 per cent. of the people turned out and voted and chose, against many urgings of the large parties, a balanced assembly. Is it not better to focus on enthusing people for the process of democracy so that they choose wisely rather than get involved in the minutiae of one system or another?
Mr. Trimble:
I am grateful to the hon. Gentleman for making that suggestion and for pointing out how successful the elections were in Palestine. He said that there were 92 names on the ballot paper. I hope that the Government Front Bench listened carefully to what he said. That example shows that it is possible to have a large number of names on a ballot paper, which would enable the provision that we have asked the Government to make--to put the names of candidates on the ballot paper. That would reduce the danger of confusion arising from misleading names. As we are dealing with constituency-based elections--where there will be only up to five names on the list of any one party--it would be possible to put the names of all the candidates standing in that constituency on the ballot paper.
Mr. Robert McCartney:
I think the hon. Gentleman would agree that there is a world of difference between voting in Israel, where the list system and all its refinements has been a feature for some time--
Mr. Beith:
The Palestinians had never voted before.
Mr. McCartney:
I am speaking about the Israeli elections. As I understand it, they have had a list system.
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