John
Healey: I am grateful for the contributions and remarks
that have been made. I welcome the support of the hon. Member for
Bromley and Chislehurst and his recognition that the order deals
largely with the concerns raised. I know that he will scrutinise future
orders relating to the set-up of the new unitaries in April, and I look
forward to
that. To
the hon. Member for Hazel Grove I say that we do not introduce the
order lightly, nor do we take lightly the decision to propose combining
elections. I am grateful to him for recognising that we have
strengthened and thoroughly followed the consultation procedure in
arriving at this point. It makes our proposals
stronger. I
counted eight separate questions from the hon. Gentleman, which I will
try to deal with. If I miss any, I am sure that hon. Members will tell
me. Rattling through them, I shall begin with the question about
article 2 not mentioning but covering mayors. The short answer is yes,
because the provisions for mayoral elections relate to the Local
Government Act 2000 and what it terms the ordinary day of elections.
Moving the ordinary day of elections of councillors would do the same
for mayors due to be elected or re-elected on the same
day. No
elections have been scheduled for 2009 in Stoke. As a result of the
mayoral referendum last week, it will be for the existing council to
form the executive and leadership of the council by the normal
established process of elections. That will happen four days after
4 June, because the mayoral term of office runs until four
days after the election
date. All
elections in England will be administered on local authority
boundaries, not just those that are specified for other reasons in the
order. Will returning officers in some areas be able to cope with a
combination of three
polls? They are confident that they can do it. That gives me confidence
that they can do it. By considering and passing the order, Parliament
will give them six months to prepare. As the hon. Member for Bromley
and Chislehurst said, lessons have been drawn and learned from previous
elections involving combination polls where administrative
complications have
arisen. On
postal votes, each local authority will deal with those in its own
area. This time, there will be no all-postal elections, so postal votes
will form only a proportion of the votes cast. We can expect that in
all areas most votes will be cast in the traditional manner at polling
stations on election
day. Political
parties, returning officers and electoral administration officers
already had November in mind as the cut-off date for casual vacancies.
In proposing to move the elections back, we had to decide whether to
move the cut-off point back as well or maintain the existing deadline.
The latter seemed sensible because people were already familiar with
it. That approach was taken when we combined the elections in 2004.
That is why we made that
decision. We
will consider whether to propose reorganisation or restructuring in
Devon, Suffolk and Norfolk and the consequences that that could bring
for election timetables only after we have received the proposals of
the boundary committee, which are due before the end of December. Any
consideration of the matters raised by the hon. Member for Hazel Grove
would be premature at this point. If appropriate, we will consider them
at the right time.
Andrew
Stunell: I appreciate what the Minister is saying. He says
that such consideration is premature, but he will be as aware as I am
of the need for political parties and others to get their acts in line.
It is difficult for them to do so when they will not know until
January, or whenever, whether there will be an election in June, and if
so, on what
terms.
John
Healey: I take the hon. Gentleman’s point. I, too,
am conscious of the position of political parties, returning officers
and electoral administrators. I think he would concede that the
principal and prior question is whether there should be reorganisation.
We will consider the matter, but only after the boundary committee has
made its
proposals. Finally,
I recognise the deep concern of the hon. Member for North Cornwall and
his hon. Friends over the position of Cornwall. I hope he feels that I
acknowledged that in my opening remarks. He is right that the
boundaries for the members serving Cornwall through the new unitary
authority have to make sense for the people of Cornwall and for the new
authority itself. With the work of the boundary committee and the
Electoral Commission, I hope we can ensure that that is done with the
minimum possible period of interim arrangements. Those are
uncomfortable and temporary, but
necessary. I
hope that the Committee will give the order its
backing. Question
put and agreed
to. Resolved, That
the Committee has considered the draft Local Elections (Ordinary Day of
Elections in 2009) Order
2008. Committee
rose at eight minutes past Eleven
o’clock.
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