781

House of Commons

Notices of Amendments

given on

Thursday 4 February 2010

For other Amendment(s) see the following page(s) of Supplement to Votes:

693-723, 769-75 and 777-79

Committee of the whole House

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Constitutional Reform and Governance Bill

Counting of votes in parliamentary elections

Mr Dominic Grieve

Mrs Eleanor Laing

Mr Eric Pickles

NC98

To move the following Clause:—

‘(1)	The Representation of the People Act 1983 is amended as follows—

(2)	In Schedule 1 (Parliamentary elections rules), in paragraph 44, after sub-

paragraph (1) insert—

“(1A)

The counting of votes in a parliamentary election shall start within four

hours of the close of the poll, save in exceptional circumstances.

(1B)	The Secretary of State shall, after consulting the Electoral Commission,

prepare draft guidance on the definition of “exceptional circumstances”

for the purposes of sub-paragraph (1A).

(1C)	The draft guidance prepared under sub-paragraph (1B) may not be issued

unless a draft has been laid before, and approved by both Houses of

Parliament.”’.

Reducing the size of Parliament: equal constituencies

Mr David Cameron

Mr Dominic Grieve

Mrs Eleanor Laing

NC99

To move the following Clause:—

‘(1)	The Parliamentary Constituencies Act is amended as follows—

(2)	For Schedule 2 of the Parliamentary Constituencies Act 1986 substitute—

Notices of Amendments: 4 February 2010

782

Constitutional Reform and Governance Bill, continued

“Schedule 2

The rules

1    (1)

The number of constituencies in the United Kingdom shall be reduced

by 10 per cent. from the figure existing on 1 July 2010.

(2)	A constituency shall be located wholly within one of—

(a)

England,

(b)

Wales,

(c)	Scotland, or

(d)	Northern Ireland.

(3)	The electorate of any constituency—

(a)	shall be as near the electoral quota as is practicable, and all

other special geographical considerations, including in

particular the size, shape and accessibility of a constituency,

shall be subordinate to achieving this aim,

(b)	and shall in any case be no greater than 103.5 per cent. and no

less than 96.5 per cent. of the electoral quota, except where

this makes it impossible to meet the provisions of clause 2 of

this schedule.

(4)	In accordance with rules 1 to 3, the Commission may have regard to—

(a)	local authority boundaries in England, Wales and Scotland,

and

(b)	the boundaries of wards in Northern Ireland.

(5)	In the application of rule 3—

(a)	the expression “electoral quota” means a number obtained by

dividing the electorate of the United Kingdom by the number

of constituencies in it,

(b)	the expression “electorate” means in relation to a

constituency, the number of persons whose names will appear

on the register of parliamentary electors in force on the

enumeration date under the Representation of the People Acts

for the constituency.

(c)	in calculating this number, the Boundary Commission shall

have regard to—

(i)	the number of persons whose names appear on the

register of parliamentary electors in force, under the

Representation of the People Acts for the

constituency,

(ii)	official local authority population forecasts provided

by the Statistics Board, and

(iii)

any change in the number or distribution of the

electors likely to take place within five years from the

review,

(iv)	in all cases, the most up to date official electoral and

statistical data available.

(d)	the expression “electorate” means in relation to the United

Kingdom, the aggregate electorate as defined in subsection (b)

above of all the constituencies in the United Kingdom.

Notices of Amendments: 4 February 2010

783

Constitutional Reform and Governance Bill, continued

(e)	the expression “enumeration date” means, in relation to any

report of the Boundary Commission under this Act, the date

on which the notice with respect to that report is published in

accordance with section 3 of this Act.

(6)	In this Schedule, a reference to a rule followed by a number is a

reference to the rule set out in the correspondingly numbered

paragraph of this Schedule.

2	Each Boundary Commission shall, within eighteen months of the

passage of this Act submit a report to the Secretary of State under

section 3(1)(a) of the Parliamentary Constituencies Act 1986.

3	Section 3A of the Parliamentary Constituencies Act 1986 shall not

apply to a report required under section (2).”’.

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Revised 5 February 2010