2 The Gould Report
6. The Scottish Elections Review (which produced
the 'Gould Report')[3]
was established by the Electoral Commission to report independently
on the administration of both the Scottish Parliamentary and local
government elections held on 3 May 2007. Mr Gould's main conclusion
was that "the voter was treated as an afterthought in the
planning and organization of those elections".[4]
He concluded:
While prescribing all elements of electoral legislation
remains a legislative function, Ministers will always need to
take some decisions on elements of electoral administration. However,
as in other areas of public life, these can and should be taken
with the voters' interests as the primary objective, supported
by publicly available professional and expert advice. This appears
not to have been the case in 2007.[5]
7. The Gould Report made a number of recommendations
for change, which we discuss in turn below. Chief among these
were:
- separate ballot papers for
regional and constituency candidates in the Scottish Parliament
elections, instead of the combined ballot sheet used on 3 May;
- the use of registered party names on the ballot
paper, not descriptions or slogans;
- a lottery to determine which order candidates
appear in, rather than using alphabetical order;
- transfer of responsibility for both sets of elections
(to local government and to the Scottish Parliament) to one body,
by giving the Scottish Executive oversight of Scottish Parliament
elections;
- 'decoupling' the Scottish Parliament and local
government elections (i.e. holding them on separate days, preferably
two years apart);
- counting ballots on the next day, instead of
an overnight count;
- the creation of a Chief Returning Officer for
Scotland;
- the rationalisation and consolidation of electoral
legislation, including a new legislative framework for electronic
counting and a moratorium on changes to the law in the run up
to polling day; and
- an earlier timetable for postal voting, with
advanced voting in person as an alternative to postal votes.
8. Upon publication of the report, the Secretary
of State for Scotland made a statement in the House of Commons,
accepting a number of these proposals.[6]
A subsequent consultation paper confirmed that the Scotland Office
would implement the following recommendations:
- to count ballot papers manually
at the next Scottish Parliament election;
- to produce ballot papers for constituency and
regional MSPs on separate sheets of paper;
- to extend the period between the close of nominations
and the election date, so that there is more time for postal votes
to be issued and returned;
- not to introduce any new electoral legislation
in the 6 months before the election;
- to bring all legislation concerning Scottish
Parliament elections into one statutory instrument.[7]
9. The Scotland Office has also undertaken 'exploratory
discussions' with the Scottish Executive regarding the location
of responsibilities for Scottish Parliament elections. It is currently
consulting on the remainder of the proposals in the Gould Report
and has indicated that it will regard this report as an important
contribution to that consultation.[8]
The Scottish Executive has said it will move the date of the local
government elections so that they do not occur on the same day
as elections to the Scottish Parliament, effectively 'decoupling'
the two elections.
The Question of responsibility
10. The Summary published with the Gould Report states,
"Although some of the comments in the report may be regarded
as critical, the Review team's objective is not to ascribe blame
to individuals or institutions. Any criticism has been raised
in order to ensure that their roles can be clarified and strengthened
for future elections." After the publication of the Report,
significant media attention focused on who was to blame for the
problems experienced, and particularly on the role of the Secretary
of State for Scotland at the time of the elections, Rt Hon Douglas
Alexander MP. Mr Gould's comment that "both the Scotland
Office and the Scottish Executive were frequently focused on partisan
political interests in carrying out their responsibilities, overlooking
voter interests"[9]
was interpreted by some commentators as a statement that Labour
ministers consciously placed party political interest before the
needs of voters. This interpretation was subsequently refuted
by Mr Gould, who issued a 'letter of clarification' in which he
restated his conclusions and emphasised that his "intention
was not to assign blame to individuals or institutions".[10]
11. Although the Gould Report appeared to state that
no-one was to blame for the problems of 3 May, failures clearly
did occur. In oral evidence, Mr Gould clarified that "It
would be better to say that everyone was to blame for the process"
but that "the fragmentation was so great throughout this
process that really there is no ultimate accountability".[11]
Both The Electoral Commission and the Minister also acknowledged
before the Committee that they bore some of the responsibility
for the failures of 3 May.[12]
They called for a focus on how to take the Gould recommendations
forward, rather than concentrating on who was to blame.
12. We agree
that the Scotland Office and all those involved in planning and
organising elections in Scotland should now focus on how to strengthen
electoral procedures for future years, rather than on assigning
blame for what went wrong on 3 May. This is not to deny that there
were failings on the part of individuals and institutions. We
do not believe that 'no-one was to blame' for the problems. Rather,
lines of accountability were so fragmented and confused that no
one person could be held solely responsible.
We now go on to examine some of the failings we have identified
and to make recommendations for future action.
3 Independent review of the Scottish Parliamentary
and local government elections 3 May 2007, 23 October 2007. Back
4
Ibid., p.120. Back
5
Ibid., p.17. Back
6
HC Deb (2006-07) 465, c173. Back
7
The Scotland Office, Sorting the Ballot: Improving the Elections
to the Scottish Parliament, a consultation paper, 12 December
2007. Back
8
Q 182 Back
9
Independent review of the Scottish Parliamentary and local
government elections 3 May 2007, 23 October 2007, p.30 Back
10
Letter from Ron Gould CM to Sam Younger, Chair of the Electoral
Commission [not printed here] available at www.electoralcommission.org.uk/templates/search/document.cfm/20341 Back
11
Q 187 Back
12
Qq 61 and 114 Back
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