| Draft Representation of the People (Form of Canvass) (Scotland) Regulations 2003 and Draft Representation of the People (Form of Canvass) (England and Wales) Regulations 2003
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Mr. Nick Hawkins (Surrey Heath): I welcome you, Mr. Gale, to the Chair for our proceedings. The Opposition have no particular difficulty with the two statutory instruments, but I wish to put some brief questions to the Minister. A chief concern of the Opposition about the next European parliamentary election has been to ensure that the rights of the people of Gibraltar are properly observed. My hon. Friend the Member for Romford (Mr. Rosindell) and I have been heavily involved in that campaign. Of course, that is not directly relevant to the statutory instruments, but I welcome the fact that special arrangements are being made for the accession countries, several of which—Cyprus, Latvia and Malta—I visited during my 11 years in the House. The citizens of those countries will be very pleased to be part of the EU and, if they happen to be in this country, to have the right to vote in European elections. My hon. Friend the Member for Tiverton and Honiton (Mrs. Browning), who was not appointed to this Committee but who is a former Minister and a senior Member of the House with great experience of electoral matters, has asked me specifically to raise some points with the Minister. I speak for my hon. Friend as well when I say that I would be perfectly happy if the Minister were to write with detailed answers, because I do not expect him to be able to answer these questions off the top of his head. My hon. Friend had a constituency case a year ago that involved a former chief officer from Broadmoor who had retired to Devon and, perfectly understandably, because of the nature of the patients Column Number: 007 and prisoners that he and his wife had dealt with in the course of employment at Broadmoor, requested that his name be withheld from the new electoral roll. Unfortunately, even though my hon. Friend raised the request, with which she agreed, the Home Office refused to allow it. I do not know whether there was a problem between the Home Office and the local electoral registration officer, but I wonder whether the Minister would undertake to write to my hon. Friend and to me about the question of the edited list referred to in the regulations and how it can apply in future to senior people in the police, the Prison Service and the armed forces. I agree with my hon. Friend the Member for Tiverton and Honiton that there should be some protection for people involved.The position is that Members of Parliament who have been involved in security-sensitive areas, such as those who live in the Westminster city council area, are entitled to vote in local government elections in London as well as in their constituency homes. However, as my hon. Friend the Member for Tiverton and Honiton points out, it has been perfectly appropriate for her and other Ministers and former Ministers to withhold their names from the electoral roll in the Westminster area. She cannot therefore understand why that is not possible in the case of her constituent. Broadmoor is located in the constituency next door to mine—that of my right hon. Friend the Member for Bracknell (Mr. Mackay)—and I happen to know that a number of former Broadmoor officers live in my constituency. The point that my hon. Friend the Member for Tiverton and Honiton raised about her constituent may be equally relevant to some of mine. It would be helpful if the Minister could respond to me and to my hon. Friend on that point. Having said that, we are quite happy for the statutory instruments to become law.
2.46 pmJohn Thurso (Caithness, Sutherland and Easter Ross): I, too, broadly welcome the regulations, which seem straightforward—if any statutory instrument can be described as straightforward. It is obviously right to expand the regulations to include citizens of member states or applicant member states so that provision is made for them to be able to vote on accession. I have some reservations about the two versions referred to, but I shall not detain the Committee with those today. I have one small point to make on part I of the schedule, which says:
The following part says:
It would be quite useful to add there,
as in the previous part, because not everyone might be fully aware of which the Commonwealth countries are. Given that we have included a list of the member Column Number: 008 states, it might be quite useful to have a list of the Commonwealth countries. I was asked whether Angola was a Commonwealth country, and replied, ''Of course not''; but in fact, it is, as is Cameroon. I am not sure that everyone would be aware of that. With that very small exception, I am delighted to welcome the regulations.
2.48 pmAnnabelle Ewing (Perth): I should like to make a brief contribution on behalf of my colleagues in the Scottish National party. We support the statutory instrument that will apply to Scotland. As the Minister rightly said, the regulations are necessary to deal with the 2004 enlargement of the European Union, which we, of course, welcome. That enlargement will illustrate to the Scots the urgent need for a direct voice at the top table, as many smaller countries will have that direct voice next year. I am afraid that my question to the Minister is not directly to the point, Mr. Gale, but perhaps you will allow me to put it. Reading the detail of the regulations and the explanatory memorandum, it is clear that European member state nationals will have the right to vote in local elections in Scotland, in the Scottish parliamentary elections and in the European parliamentary election, but not in the Westminster election. Are there any ongoing discussions at EU level on the extension of the right to vote in elections such as those for Westminster in the United Kingdom?
2.49 pmMr. Wilshire: As someone who has been ready to complain and criticise the Government over the years, it would be a proper starting point for me to say on this occasion, ''Thank you'' to the Government, and to my opposite number in the usual channels. About a week ago, my hon. Friend the Member for Surrey Heath (Mr. Hawkins), the Opposition spokesman, and I, the Whip, were supposed to be in different Rooms at the same time, doing different things. A request for help was graciously granted, and I put my appreciation on the record. Ms Bridget Prentice (Lewisham, East): A pleasure. Mr. Wilshire: The other thing—it may not be such a pleasure, Mr. Gale—is that until last week, when the Opposition Whips Office made its annual change of our duties, I was the Opposition Whip for Northern Ireland, and a similar order came before a Committee of which I was a member, so I have had an opportunity to think about it—I have had a practice run. I therefore know some of the questions that need to be asked; the Minister might like to get a copy of Hansard, just in case he is tempted to say something that his opposite number— The Chairman: Order. I was the Chairman of that Committee, and I hope that the hon. Gentleman will not rehearse all the arguments. Mr. Wilshire: No, Mr. Gale; I shall not rehearse the specific arguments about Northern Ireland, but I have had a chance to think of some new ones, all of which I hope you will find in order. First is the question of north Cyprus. It is not likely, but it is possible that between now and when the Column Number: 009 register comes into effect the Cyprus problem may have been resolved. We all hope that it will. However, residents of northern Cyprus who are not recognised as proper residents of the island of Cyprus, namely those who have come from mainland Turkey since partition, will be resident in a Commonwealth country—indeed, they may be able to claim now that they are residents in a Commonwealth country, another issue on which the Minister may care to comment. The Turkish Cypriots, who have been there since before partition, would clearly be entitled, but I am interested in what would be the status of anyone who had been in north Cyprus since partition who then came to this country—and there is a significant number of them. What would be their status and their eligibility to vote?Secondly, in those countries that are allowed referendums to decide their future, it is possible, but not likely, that between now and accession, some may decide not to join. Except for those who live in Cyprus or Malta, who are already citizens of a Commonwealth country and will therefore already be able to vote, the people of those countries would not be able to vote; but they will be on the electoral register. When I last asked the question, I was told that the electoral registration officer would know who came from where. I am not sure that he would. He is being asked only to list people who come into that category. Is the Minister sure, in the event of that happening, that it would be possible to use the forms to identify which of those people who thought that they would be entitled to vote were no longer entitled because their country had decided not to join the EU? If the answer is that the electoral registration officer would indeed know and could therefore remove the name, how would polling agents, candidates and tellers know that the right people had been crossed off? How would they be able to challenge someone who claimed the right to vote because he was an EU citizen if there was no indication on the register that he was entitled to vote only in European Parliament and local elections, which is what the register would show? How could such people be challenged? They would still be on the register, despite the fact that their country had not joined, because it would not show from which country they came. I draw the Minister's attention to page 7 of the regulations, and part II of the schedule. In the paragraph dealing with the full register, it states:
In due course, a cross-party alliance will force the Government to hold a referendum on whether we should sign away our sovereignty to Brussels. I shall not go further down that argument, Mr. Gale, because you would not let me.
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| ©Parliamentary copyright 2003 | Prepared 9 July 2003 |
