Committee of the whole House: 19 October 2010

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Parliamentary Voting System and Constituencies Bill, continued

(3)	After subsection (3)(c) there shall be inserted—

“(ca)

an indication by a Minister of the Crown, whether or not in

response to enquiries, how they intend to vote in the referendum;

(cb)	a justification of any such voting intention by a Minister of the

Crown by reference to material published before the

commencement of the relevant period by any person or

published during the relevant period by a person or body

designated under section 108”.

(4)	After subsection (3) there shall be inserted—

“(3A)

Subsection (3)(cb) above does not extend to material published or

republished during the relevant period by a person or body designated

under section 108 if it consists of material whose original publication by

any person or body (whether lawfully authorised or not) would itself

constitute a breach of the prohibition in subsection (2).”’.

Further referendums

Mr Bernard Jenkin

Mr David Davis

Mrs Eleanor Laing

Mr Edward Leigh

Mr Christopher Chope

Mr William Cash

NC2

To move the following Clause:—

‘No further referendum may be held in relation to the voting system for

parliamentary elections until the end of the period of seven years starting with the

day on which the referendum required by section 1 was held.’.

Ministerial offices

Mark Reckless

NC6

To move the following Clause:—

‘(1)	The House of Commons Disqualification Act 1975 is amended as follows.

(2)	In section 2(1), replace “ninety-five” with “eighty-eight”.’.

Committee of the whole House: 19 October 2010

449

Parliamentary Voting System and Constituencies Bill, continued

Variation in limit of number of holders of Ministerial offices

Mr Charles Walker

Mr Graham Allen

Mr Graham Brady

Caroline Lucas

Mrs Anne Main

Mr Nigel Dodds

NC7

To move the following Clause:—

‘(1)	The House of Commons Disqualification Act 1975 is amended as follows.

(2)	For section 2(1) substitute—

“(1)	The number of holders of offices specified in Schedule 2 to this Act (in

this section referred to as Ministerial offices) entitled to sit and vote in

the House of Commons at any one time, whether paid or unpaid, must not

exceed 95 if the number of constituencies in the United Kingdom is

650.”.

(3)	After section 2(1) insert—

“(1A)

If the number of constituencies in the United Kingdom decreases below

650, the limit on the number of holders of Ministerial offices entitled to

sit and vote in the House of Commons referred to in section 2(1) must be

decreased by at least a proportionate amount.”.

(4)	In subsection (2), after “subsection (1)”, insert “or subsection (1A)”.’.

Proportional representation in Parliament

Andrew George

NC8

To move the following Clause:—

‘(1)	Members of the House of Commons shall have weighted representation in the

House of Commons in respect of each parliamentary vote which a Minister has

announced in the House of Commons shall be a whipped vote.

(2)	The weighted vote of each Member shall be determined by the number of votes

cast for the party they stood for at the time of the last general election divided by

the number of parliamentary seats gained by that party in accordance with the

equation below:

V

S

where V is the total number of first preference votes (under the alternative vote

system) or votes (under the first past the post system) and S is the number of

parliamentary seats secured by the party at the general election.

(3)	For the purposes of this clause a political party is as defined in the Political

Parties, Elections and Referendums Act 2000.

(4)	Any Member of Parliament elected to the House of Commons at times other than

a general election will be assumed to have an unweighted single vote.

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Parliamentary Voting System and Constituencies Bill, continued

(5)	An unweighted single vote shall be defined by the following equation TV TS where TV is the total number of votes cast in the general election and TS is the

total number of parliamentary seats represented in the House of Commons

following the general election.

(6)	On those occasions when the Governement determine that the matter which may

divide the House of Commons is not a whipped vote, the weighting of votes shall

not apply.

(7)	If any Member of Parliament decides no longer to take the whip of the political

party for which they are elected at the preceding election their vote shall be

whichever is the less of—

(a)	the weighting of the party whip they adopt; and

(b)	an unweighted single vote.’.

Mandatory voting at general elections: amendments

Mr Roger Godsiff

Fiona Mactaggart

NC9

To move the following Clause:—

‘(1)	All persons on the electoral register in the case of United Kingdom parliamentary

general elections must, unless they have a reasonable excuse, either—

(a)	attend the polling station at which they are to vote on election day during

the hours when the poll is open and receive a ballot paper, or

(b)	request that a ballot paper be sent to them by post.

(2)	Electoral registration officers must issue penalty notices to all persons on the

electoral register for which they are responsible who have not complied with one

of the requirements in subsection (1).

(3)	On receipt of a penalty notice the elector concerned must either—

(a)	pay a penalty of not more than £50, or

(b)	give notice within 28 days of an appeal under the mechanism prescribed

under subsection (5).

(4)	For each complete period of 28 days in which a person sent a penalty notice does

not pay the penalty, the penalty payable shall rise by a further £50.

(5)	The Secretary of State must by order prescribe an appeal mechanism for notices

issued under subsection (2), which must include provision for electors to offer a

reasonable excuse for not complying with subsection (1).

(6)	An order under subsection (5) is to be made by statutory instrument and is subject

to annulment in pursuance of a resolution of either House of Parliament.

(7)	Electoral registration officers must comply with any guidance issued by the

Secretary of State about their responsibilities under this section.’.

Committee of the whole House: 19 October 2010

451

Parliamentary Voting System and Constituencies Bill, continued

European parliamentary elections: Saint-Lague method

Caroline Lucas

Jonathan Edwards

NC10

To move the following Clause:—

‘(1)	The European Parliamentary Elections Act 2002 shall be amended as follows.

(2)	In section 2, for subsection (6) there shall be substituted—

“(6)	The second and subsequent seats are to be allocated in the same way,

except that the number of votes given to a party to which one or more

seats have already been allocated are to be divided by 2S + 1, where S is

the number of seats already allocated to that party.”.’.

Recommendations to the Boundary Commission

Susan Elan Jones

NC11

To move the following Clause:—

‘Where a substantial number of representations proposing changes to the

Commission’s provisional recommendations are received but the Commission

decides not to arrange a public inquiry, the Commission shall request an Assistant

Commissioner drawn from a national panel of independent lawyers, to consider

all written representations together with the provisional recommendations and

publish a summary of the main points and the Assistant Commissioner’s own

recommendations to the Boundary Commission.’.

Commencement: Wales

Susan Elan Jones

NC12

To move the following Clause:—

‘Notwithstanding any provision of this or any other Act, there shall be no change

to the number of boundaries or constituencies in Wales unless the Assembly Act

provisions as defined in Part 4 of the Government of Wales Act 2006 have come

into force.’.

Committee of the whole House: 19 October 2010

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Parliamentary Voting System and Constituencies Bill, continued

Candidates at general elections to the National Assembly for Wales

Jonathan Edwards

Hywel Williams

Mr Elfyn Llwyd

NC17

To move the following Clause:—

‘In section 7 of the Government of Wales Act 2006 (Candidates at general

elections), subsections 5 (c) and 6 (c) are repealed.’.

Overseas constituency

Andrew Rosindell

Andrew Percy

Mr Graham Brady

NC18

To move the following Clause:—

‘(1)	The 1986 Act after section 1(1) there is inserted—

“(1A)

There shall for the purposes of paraliamentary elections be a constituency

named the Overseas constituency, returning a single member, for British

subjects of Overseas Territories and Crown Dependencies who have

expressed a wish to participate in United Kingdom parliamentary

elections.

(1B)	A Boundary Commission may make a report under section 3 of this Act

(Reports of the Boundary Commissions) if in its view the number of

members to be elected from the Overseas constituency should increase,

in which case references in that section to “the part of the United

Kingdom” should be disregarded.

(1C)	If a Boundary Commission mades a report under subsection (1B) of this

Act, sections 3A (Reviews and proposed recommendations by Boundary

Commissions), 4 (Orders in Council) and 5 (Notices) of this Act apply to

that report.

(1D)	Entitlement to vote in the Overseas constituency must be based on the

register prepared under section (2)(1A) of the Parliamentary Voting

System and Constituencies Act 2010.”.’.

Committee of the whole House: 19 October 2010

453

Parliamentary Voting System and Constituencies Bill, continued

New Schedules

The Deputy Prime Minister

NS2

To move the following Schedule:—

‘Combination of polls: England

Part 1

Provision about combination

General provisions

Interpretation

1    (1)

An election or local referendum the poll for which is, under section

[Combination of polls](1), to be taken together with the poll for the referendum

under section 1 is referred to in this Schedule as a “relevant election”.

(2)	The polls to be taken together are referred to in this Schedule as “combined

polls”.

(3)	In relation to a local referendum, expressions used in this Part of this Schedule

are to be construed in accordance with the following table.

	Expression	Meaning
	“Counting agent”	Counting observer as defined by
		regulation 2(1) of the Local Authorities
		(Conduct of Referendums) (England)
		Regulations 2007 (S.I. 2007/2089).
	“Election agent”	Counting observer as defined by that
		regulation.
	“Polling agent”	Polling observer as defined by that
		regulation.
	“Returning officer”	Counting officer as defined by that
		regulation.
	“Elector”	Voter as defined by rule 2(1) of the Local
		Referendums (Combination of Polls) Rules.

2	In this Schedule—

“counting agent” means a counting agent for the referendum or a counting

agent for a relevant election (except where one or other is specified);

“local authority” means—

(e)	a county council in England;

(f)	a district council;

(g)	a London borough council;

(h)	a parish council;

“Local Elections (Combination of Polls) Rules” means the rules set out in

Schedule 3 to the Local Elections (Principal Areas) (England and Wales)

Rules 2006 (S.I. 2006/3304);

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454

Parliamentary Voting System and Constituencies Bill, continued

“local referendum” means a referendum held in England under Part 2 of the

Local Government Act 2000;

“Local Referendums (Combination of Polls) Rules” means the rules set out

in Schedule 5 to the Local Authorities (Conduct of Referendums)

(England) Regulations 2007 (S.I. 2007/2089);

“Mayoral Elections (Combination of Polls) Rules” means the rules set out

in Schedule 3 to the Local Authorities (Mayoral Elections) (England and

Wales) Regulations 2007 (S.I. 2007/1024);

“Parish Elections (Combination of Polls) Rules” means the rules set out in

Schedule 3 to the Local Elections (Parishes and Communities) (England

and Wales) Rules 2006 (S.I. 2006/3305).

Functions to be performed by counting officer

3    (1)

The specified functions of a returning officer for a relevant election are to be

carried out instead by the counting officer for the voting area in which the

relevant election is to be held.

(2)	The specified functions are those specified in regulation 5 of the

Representation of the People (Combination of Polls) (England and Wales)

Regulations 2004 (S.I. 2004/294) (so far as relating to relevant elections).

(3)	This paragraph applies instead of regulation 4 of those regulations so far as it

relates to the functions of returning officers.

Attendance and conduct of observers

4	Section 6E of the 2000 Act has effect as if for subsection (4) there were

substituted—

“(4)	A relevant officer is—

(a)	in the case of proceedings at a polling station, the presiding

officer;

(b)	in the case of any other proceedings at the issue or receipt of

postal ballot papers, the relevant returning or counting officer

within the meaning of regulation 64 of the Representation of

the People (England and Wales) Regulations 2001 (S.I. 2001/

341);

(c)	in the case of any proceedings at the counting of votes, the

counting or returning officer responsible for counting the

votes under paragraph 44(1) or (3) of Schedule [Combination

of polls: England] to the Parliamentary Voting System and

Constituencies Act 2010;

(d)	in the case of any proceedings not mentioned in paragraph (a),

(b) or (c), the counting officer for the referendum on the

voting system for United Kingdom parliamentary elections;

(e)	such other person as a person mentioned in paragraph (a), (b),

(c) or (d) authorises for the purposes of the proceedings

mentioned in that paragraph.”

Cost of combined polls

5	The cost of taking the combined polls (excluding any cost solely attributable

to the referendum or to a particular relevant election), and any cost attributable

to their combination, is to be apportioned equally among them.

6    (1)

In section 36 of the 1983 Act (local authority elections), subsections (4), (5)

and (6) apply—

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Revised 19 October 2010