| Previous Section | Index | Home Page |
8.35 pm
Mr. Richard Shepherd (Aldridge-Brownhills): When I hear the twaddle that has been advanced, I think that I must be an unreconstructed, old-fashioned Member of Parliament. Where does the notion that there is an imperative to introduce the Bill come from? I listened carefully to the Home Secretary, who bedazzled me with his knowledge of Dutch pronunciation and all manner of contrived and other systems. He advanced the proposition that the Bill was based on a manifesto commitment, and I
note that one or two Labour Members agree that the Labour party manifesto mentioned the introduction of proportional representation for European elections. However, the manifesto did not talk about a closed list.
I am genuinely bemused by the Labour party's constitutional change programme--which is fundamental to its concept of the modernisation of Britain--because its approach is essentially piecemeal. The approach for Scotland is different from that for Wales and for London. No Bill is ever in front of anyone and there are no regulations; it is all up in the air.
Let us consider what a manifesto commitment amounts to. I have to confess--and I have done so for many years--that I have not always read the Conservative manifesto. It confuses me and I would not want to confuse the electorate with all its aspirations and promises. I suspect that my approach to a manifesto is not so different from that of most hon. Members. Few could attest to the contents of their party's manifesto, or pass even an O-level on its contents.
Central to the Welsh Labour party's manifesto was a commitment to have a devolved assembly--it was the primary argument in the general election--but to show us that this was the will of the people, the Government invoked a referendum. And what was the resounding result? Seventy-five per cent. did not support the proposals. The Government's response was, "We have had a victory." Notwithstanding the fact that 25 per cent. voted for, 25 per cent. against and 50 per cent. did not vote, the Government said that it was an endorsement of their manifesto commitment. It is laughable--risible.
The most profound objectors and commentators were Labour Welsh Members. They were harried and hounded by the Under-Secretary of State for Wales, who reminded them all the time of their election commitment. It does not matter a row of beans. In the end, we shall throw the straws into the air and unsettle something that has been pretty settled and has worked to the benefit of our country. Wales contributed to the great Labour victory of 1945 and the huge social change that commanded our nation for nearly 30 years thereafter.
We now move to the Government's extraordinary proposal. I join my hon. Friends and Labour Members who have the greatest reservation about the profound change that the new Labour Government are setting in motion. Much has been made of the fact that the Home Secretary himself does not really have his heart in it. I am unable to comment on that, but I can well understand why that might be the case.
The Government's proposal would break something that I consider extremely important. One of the commanding facts of our constitutional arrangements throughout British history--even in the post-war era--is the association and identification of an individual with an area and the electorate within it. First and foremost we are representatives not of a party machine but of an area.
It used to be said--and Churchill invoked it to save his own skin before the second world war when Conservative central office was trying to unseat him for being awkward and difficult--that the duties of a Member of Parliament were first to his country, second to his constituency and third to his party. The Bill reverses all that. Now, the first duty of a Member of Parliament is to his party. I hear hon. Members asking, "But isn't that the reality of the world?" The world may sometimes have rotated on its
axis but the odd Member--the individual supporting a cause and standing against the great guns of his party--remains extremely important.
Therefore, the question, "How do we get rid of a Member?" is extremely pertinent. The Government can well advise us on that subject as they did so spectacularly well at the general election.
Identifying an individual and what he stands for--or fails to stand for--has always been a deep and important part of our process. Given the huge geographical regions proposed in the Bill, I wonder how I can go and see my MEP. According to the Bill, my region--the West Midlands--comprises the counties of Herefordshire, Staffordshire, Stoke-on-Trent, Shropshire, Warwickshire, West Midlands, The Wrekin and Worcestershire. There are eight counties and there will be eight MEPs. Where can I meet them? The first relationship for a representative is the ability to meet, argue and try to impress his constituents. I do not know where I could possibly meet the MEPs representing my area.
I know the gibes I have made about the shortcomings of MEPs in my own area. We hardly ever see them, but I accept that it may well not be their fault. The very nature of the area makes it extremely difficult for them to serve their 500,000 potential electors. It is not impossible, but it may be difficult.
Under the proposed arrangement, who will be responsible? Whom do I lobby and where in that vast range of counties do I go as a constituent and as a citizen to lobby my MEP? I find it an extraordinary arrangement. What happens about the individual election address? At every national election--including European elections--every candidate makes a personal address that identifies his nature and character and why one should vote for him. Under the new arrangement, that is absolutely meaningless.
How does one encourage the sensitivities and the reflections that develop during a Parliament? How we start on day one is not always how we end up on the last day of our term of office. Experience, circumstances and other factors may change our approach, yet I do not know who the anonymous people are who are elected by a list.
I raised another question that was not really answered. Every right hon. and hon. Member, and all those elected to represent us in the European Parliament, will have to have a position on the single currency. It is an important issue that will confront all parties. There are profound reservations within the Labour party about what amounts to a change in British democracy. Although the Liberal Democrats are 100 per cent. for everything, the polls tell us that the overwhelming majority of their supporters are against a single currency. Their manifesto will doubtless proclaim the merits of a single currency, but what about the hearts and judgments of the millions of people who believe in the Labour party yet have reservations and doubts about the single currency? What about the millions of Conservatives who do or do not believe in the merits of a single currency? In the June 1999 European election, how will they make a choice under the closed list system?
I welcome the Home Secretary's generosity in saying that he will consider suggestions. However, my experience of the parliamentary system is that a Minister's good intentions are often overcome by the rigours and demands of the timetable and programme of the House and the other Departments' need for legislative time.
I make a plea to the huge majority who support the Government. We are not all nodding donkeys; we reflect on these matters. In the end, the expression of our country and our liberty has been through the individuals who represent us--often against the tides of opinion in their own parties. In the Labour party it used to be almost a mark of honour to have the whip withdrawn. One of the former leaders of the Labour party suffered that indignity. The father of the national health service also had the whip withdrawn. Are the souls and the characters that moulded our political life to be denied representation in an anonymous list system covering, in my area, all those counties--unreachable and inaccessible?
I was schooled in part in Italy where I did postgraduate work. One of the features of the Italian political system that has marched with me all the years of my life has been the attention to impossible party lists, which were the doing down of a great country for many years. The people of Italy could never get to grips with the corruption, the back-room dealing and the favouritism.
My hon. Friends the Members for Stone (Mr. Cash), for Rochford and Southend, East (Sir T. Taylor) and for Ludlow (Mr. Gill) all had the whip withdrawn as those then in charge of the party could not weigh up the seriousness and earnestness that huge numbers of Conservatives--and not only Conservatives--felt about the nature of the surrender of our democracy in the advancement of European treaties.
Mr. David Watts (St. Helens, North):
Might some of the hon. Gentleman's worries be dispersed by the fact that a new system could give every member of the Conservative party and every member of the Labour party a voice in the selection process for the list? Would that alleviate the problem? Although the hon. Gentleman has raised an important issue, it can be addressed by the way in which the system is put together.
Mr. Shepherd:
Yes, I am sure that we can contrive other ways of doing things. I have always believed that anyone standing for election must be accessible. I am not knocking improvements on the current system; I am trying to address the Bill which, in my view, is contrary to our traditions and our democracy and against the interests of the people of these islands.
| Next Section
| Index | Home Page |