sc501511.139-145

House of Commons

Session 2005 - 06
Internet Publications
Other Bills before Parliament

S.C.B.
139

House of Commons

Tuesday 15th November 2005

Standing Committee Proceedings

Standing Committee B

Electoral Administration Bill

(Except Clauses Nos. 9 to 18; any new Clauses or new Schedules relating to Part 2 or Part 3

of the Bill; any new Clauses or new Schedules relating to the procedure to be followed at an

election on the death of a candidate; and any new Clauses or new Schedules relating to can

didates standing in more than one constituency at an election.)

[First And Second Sittings]

Harriet Harman

Agreed to

That—

(1)
during the proceedings on the Electoral Administration Bill, in addition to its

first meeting at 10.30 a.m. on Tuesday 15th November, the Standing

Committee shall meet at:

(a)
4.00 p.m on Tuesday 15th November,

(b)
9.00 a.m. and 1.00 p.m. on Thursday 17th November,

(c)
10.30 a.m. and 4.00 p.m. on Tuesday 22nd November,

(d)
9.00 a.m. and 1.00 p.m on Thursday 24th November;

(2)
the Bill be considered in the following order, namely, Clauses 1 to 8, Clauses

19 to 66, Schedules 1 and 2, Clauses 67 to 71, new Clauses, new Schedules,

remaining proceedings on the Bill;

(3)
proceedings on the Bill shall (so far as not previously concluded) be brought

to a conclusion at 4.00 p.m on Thursday 24th November.

Mr Jonathan Djanogly

Mr Henry Bellingham

Mrs Eleanor Laing

Withdrawn  35

Clause  1,  page  1,  line  4,  after ‘may’, insert ‘, pursuant to consultation with all

affected political parties,’.

S.C.B. Standing Committee Proceedings: 15th November 2005
140

Electoral Administration Bill, continued

Mr Jonathan Djanogly

Mr Henry Bellingham

Mrs Eleanor Laing

Not called  36

Clause  1,  page  1,  line  11,  leave out ‘may’ and insert ‘must’.

Mr Jonathan Djanogly

Mr Henry Bellingham

Mrs Eleanor Laing

Not called  37

Clause  1,  page  2,  line  5,  at end insert ‘, and

(c)
require the CORE keeper to maintain the information securely to protect

the integrity of the information from non-specified third parties.’.

Mr Jonathan Djanogly

Mr Henry Bellingham

Mrs Eleanor Laing

Not selected  38

Clause  1,  page  2,  line  7,  at end insert—

‘(7A)
the relevant person in HM Forces shall provide the CORE keeper with accurate

details of anyone who has left HM Forces every three months.’.

Mr Jonathan Djanogly

Mr Henry Bellingham

Mrs Eleanor Laing

Not selected  39

Clause  1,  page  2,  line  26,  at end insert—

‘(12)
A CORE scheme may require, in the interests of protecting entries from fraud,

that all electors must supply an individual unique identifier such as, where

appropriate, a national insurance number.’.

Clause Agreed to.

Mr Jonathan Djanogly

Mr Henry Bellingham

Mrs Eleanor Laing

Withdrawn  40

Clause  2,  page  3,  line  19,  at end insert ‘in an individual constituency;’.

Clause Agreed to.

Clauses 3 and 4 Agreed to.

Mr Jonathan Djanogly

Mr Henry Bellingham

Mrs Eleanor Laing

Not called  42

Clause  5,  page  5,  line  29,  at end insert—

S.C.B. Standing Committee Proceedings: 15th November 2005
141

Electoral Administration Bill, continued

‘(11)
A CORE scheme shall make provision to allow registered political parites full

access, without charge, to information controlled by the CORE keeper. Access to

information shall be governed by the Political Parties, Elections and

Referendums Act 2000 (c.41).’.

Clause Agreed to.

Mr Jonathan Djanogly

Mr Henry Bellingham

Mrs Eleanor Laing

Not called  43

Clause  6,  page  5,  line  42,  at end insert ‘; and

(e)
affected political parties.’.

Clause Agreed to.

Clauses 7 and 8 Agreed to.

Mr David Heath

Dr John Pugh

Withdrawn  3

Clause  19,  page  18,  line  36,  at end insert ‘, except that such a notice may not be

made in the period of three months before an election the date of which is prescribed.’.

Mr Jonathan Djanogly

Mr Henry Bellingham

Mrs Eleanor Laing

Not selected  44

Clause  19,  page  20,  line  36,  at end insert—

‘18E
Electoral Boundary Reform

There shall be introduced an electoral quota system to determine the size of each

constituency electorate. The quota shall be determined by dividing the total

electorate in the United Kingdom by the number of seats. Maintaining an equal

number of electors per seat shall be the overriding consideration in determining

electoral boundaries.’.

Clause Agreed to.

Mr David Heath

Dr John Pugh

Withdrawn  4

Clause  20,  page  22,  line  5,  leave out ‘nominated as a candidate’ and insert

‘elected’.

S.C.B. Standing Committee Proceedings: 15th November 2005
142

Electoral Administration Bill, continued

Clause Agreed to.

Clause 21 Agreed to.

Mr David Heath

Dr John Pugh

Withdrawn  5

Clause  22,  page  24,  line  18,  at end insert—

‘(7A)
In rule 7 (subscription of nomination paper), in paragraph (1), for the word

“eight” substitute “one hundred”.’.

Mr Jonathan Djanogly

Mr Henry Bellingham

Mrs Eleanor Laing

Negatived on division  46

Clause  22,  page  24,  line  33,  leave out section (9).

Clause Agreed to.

Mr Jonathan Djanogly

Mr Henry Bellingham

Mrs Eleanor Laing

Not selected  47

Clause  23,  page  24,  line  42,  leave out ‘or’ and insert ‘and’.

Mr Angus MacNeil

Mr Alex Salmond

Pete Wishart

Mr Mike Weir

Angus Robertson

Stewart Hosie

Withdrawn  19

Clause  23,  page  25,  line  3,  leave out ‘Scotland’.

Mr Angus MacNeil

Mr Alex Salmond

Pete Wishart

Mr Mike Weir

Angus Robertson

Stewart Hosie

Withdrawn  20

Clause  23,  page  25,  line  7,  at end insert—

‘(c)
in relation to a candidate standing in an election in Scotland, it consists

of the word “independent” or the word “Neo-eisimeil”.’.

S.C.B. Standing Committee Proceedings: 15th November 2005
143

Electoral Administration Bill, continued

Mr David Heath

Dr John Pugh

Withdrawn  6

Clause  23,  page  25,  line  8,  leave out subsections (3) to (9).

Mr Jonathan Djanogly

Mr Henry Bellingham

Mrs Eleanor Laing

Not called  48

Clause  23,  page  25,  line  13,  leave out ‘to be likely’.

Mr Jonathan Djanogly

Mr Henry Bellingham

Mrs Eleanor Laing

Not called  49

Clause  23,  page  25,  line  15,  leave out ‘it is not likely to’ and insert ‘will not’.

Mr Jonathan Djanogly

Mr Henry Bellingham

Mrs Eleanor Laing

Not called  50

Clause  23,  page  25,  line  22,  leave out ‘be likely’.

Mr Angus MacNeil

Mr Alex Salmond

Pete Wishart

Mr Mike Weir

Angus Robertson

Stewart Hosie

Not called  21

Clause  23,  page  25,  line  43,  after ‘Wales’ insert ‘or Scotland’.

Mr Angus MacNeil

Mr Alex Salmond

Pete Wishart

Mr Mike Weir

Angus Robertson

Stewart Hosie

Not called  22

Clause  23,  page  25,  line  45,  after ‘or’ insert ‘Scottish Gaelic or’.

Sir Patrick Cormack

Sir Menzies Campbell

Mr John Denham

Mrs Gwyneth Dunwoody

Chris Grayling

Sir George Young

Agreed to  13

Clause  23,  page  26,  line  8,  leave out ‘(b)’ and insert ‘(c) (inserted by section

[Candidate not to stand in more than one constituency])’.

S.C.B. Standing Committee Proceedings: 15th November 2005
144

Electoral Administration Bill, continued

Sir Patrick Cormack

Sir Menzies Campbell

Mr John Denham

Mrs Gwyneth Dunwoody

Chris Grayling

Sir George Young

Agreed to  14

Clause  23,  page  26,  line  10,  leave out ‘(c)’ and insert ‘(d)’.

Mr Jonathan Djanogly

Mr Henry Bellingham

Mrs Eleanor Laing

Not called  51

Clause  23,  page  26,  line  23,  at end insert—

‘( )
If the returning officer thinks that the description on the nomination paper of a

candidate whose description is not authorised as mentioned in rule 6A(1) or (1B)

is misleadingly similar to a “registered description”, as detailed in section 28A or

28B of the Political Parties, Elections and Referendums Act 2000, he must, as

soon as practicable after the receipt of the non-authorised description, give his

decision on its validity.’.

Mr Angus MacNeil

Mr Alex Salmond

Pete Wishart

Mr Mike Weir

Angus Robertson

Stewart Hosie

Not called  23

Clause  23,  page  26,  line  35,  leave out ‘Scotland’.

Mr Angus MacNeil

Mr Alex Salmond

Pete Wishart

Mr Mike Weir

Angus Robertson

Stewart Hosie

Not called  24

Clause  23,  page  26,  line  38,  at end insert—

‘(c)
in relation to an election in Scotland “IND/NEO-E” or, if the candidate

so requests, “NEO-E/IND”.’.

Mr Angus MacNeil

Mr Alex Salmond

Pete Wishart

Mr Mike Weir

Angus Robertson

Stewart Hosie

Not called  26

Clause  23,  page  26,  line  45,  after ‘“ANNIB/IND”’, insert ‘“IND/NEO-E” and

“NEO-E/IND”.’.

S.C.B. Standing Committee Proceedings: 15th November 2005
145

Electoral Administration Bill, continued

Mr Angus MacNeil

Mr Alex Salmond

Pete Wishart

Mr Mike Weir

Angus Robertson

Stewart Hosie

Not called  25

Clause  23,  page  26,  line  45,  leave out ‘and’.

Clause, as amended, Agreed to.

Clauses 24 and 25 Agreed to.

Sir Patrick Cormack

Sir Menzies Campbell

Mr John Denham

Mrs Gwyneth Dunwoody

Chris Grayling

Sir George Young

Agreed to  15

Clause  26,  page  28,  line  22,  leave out first ‘In’.

Sir Patrick Cormack

Sir Menzies Campbell

Mr John Denham

Mrs Gwyneth Dunwoody

Chris Grayling

Sir George Young

Agreed to  16

Clause  26,  page  28,  line  22,  after ‘papers)’, insert ‘is amended as follows.

(2)
In subsection (1), after paragraph (b) insert “or

(c)
a certificate authorising for the purposes of rule 6A of the

parliamentary elections rules the use by a candidate of a

description if he knows that the candidate is standing at an

election in another consituency in which the poll is to be held on

the same day as the poll at the election to which the certificate

relates.”.’.

Sir Patrick Cormack

Sir Menzies Campbell

Mr John Denham

Mrs Gwyneth Dunwoody

Chris Grayling

Sir George Young

Agreed to  17

Clause   26,  page  28,  line  29,  after ‘election,’, insert—

‘(c)
at statement that he is not a candidate at an election for any other

constituency the poll for which is to be held on the same day as the poll

at the election to which the consent relates,’.