House of Commons Public Bill Committee Proceedings

House of Commons

Session 2010 - 11
Internet Publications
Other Bills before Parliament

Committee of the whole House Proceedings: 18 October 2010
68

Parliamentary Voting System and Constituencies Bill, continued

    (3A)
Each polling station must be equally accessible to people with disabilities

regardless of provisions made in sub-paragraph (1).’.

The Deputy Prime Minister

Agreed to  271

Schedule  2,  page  29,  line  41,  at end insert—


‘This paragraph is subject to paragraphs (1A) and (2).

    (1A)
An official poll card must not be sent to a person—

(a)
as an elector, if the person is entitled to a postal vote in Northern

Ireland;

(b)
as a proxy, if the person is entitled to a proxy postal vote in Northern

Ireland.’.

The Deputy Prime Minister

Agreed to  272

Schedule  2,  page  30,  line  23,  leave out sub-paragraph (b).

The Deputy Prime Minister

Agreed to  273

Schedule  2,  page  30,  line  27,  leave out sub-paragraph (d).

Luciana Berger

Not called  339

Schedule  2,  page  31,  line  39,  at end insert—

‘(za)
information on assistance available at every polling station to ensure

access for voters with disabilities;

(zb)
clear instructions to all presiding officers and polling clerks on the

right of all registered voters with disabilities to vote;

(zc)
clear guidance to presiding officers about the information and support

specific groups of disabled people require.’.

Luciana Berger

Not called  340

Schedule  2,  page  31,  line  45,  at end insert—

  ‘(4A)
For the purposes of paragraph (4)(zc) specific groups may include (although

not exclusively)—

(a)
people with mobility difficulties;

(b)
people with a visual impairment such as blindness or partial sight;

(c)
people with a learning disability;

(d)
people with social or cognitive disorders such as autism or Asperger’s

syndrome;

(e)
people with mental health problems.’.

The Deputy Prime Minister

Agreed to  171

Schedule  2,  page  35,  line  3,  leave out sub-paragraph (4).

The Deputy Prime Minister

Agreed to  274

Schedule  2,  page  35,  line  31,  after ‘referendum’ insert ‘on the voting system for

United Kingdom parliamentary elections’.

Committee of the whole House Proceedings: 18 October 2010
69

Parliamentary Voting System and Constituencies Bill, continued

The Deputy Prime Minister

Agreed to  275

Schedule  2,  page  36,  line  5,  after ‘referendum’ insert ‘on the voting system for

United Kingdom parliamentary elections’.

The Deputy Prime Minister

Agreed to  276

Schedule  2,  page  36,  line  9,  after ‘referendum’ insert ‘on the voting system for

United Kingdom parliamentary elections’.

The Deputy Prime Minister

Agreed to  277

Schedule  2,  page  36,  line  22,  after ‘referendum’ insert ‘on the voting system for

United Kingdom parliamentary elections’.

The Deputy Prime Minister

Agreed to  278

Schedule  2,  page  36,  line  35,  after ‘referendum’ insert ‘on the voting system for

United Kingdom parliamentary elections’.

Edward Miliband

Sadiq Khan

Chris Bryant

Mr Peter Hain

Negatived on division  352

Schedule  2,  page  37,  line  26,  after ‘contrary’, insert ‘including any validly

registered voter who presents himself to the polling station before 10 pm but, because of

a q ueue, is not immediately able to vote’.

The Deputy Prime Minister

Agreed to  172

Schedule  2,  page  46,  line  44,  leave out ‘election’ and insert ‘referendum’.

Iain Stewart

Mrs Eleanor Laing

Negatived  153

Schedule  2,  page  48,  line  29,  leave out ‘may’ and insert ‘must’.

Iain Stewart

Mrs Eleanor Laing

Not called  154

Schedule  2,  page  48,  line  32,  at end insert—

‘(4A)
If the difference between the total number of votes cast in the referendum in the

country in favour of the answer “Yes” and the total number of votes cast in the

referendum in the country in favour of the answer “No” is fewer than 10,000 or

0.1 per cent. of the total number of votes cast, whichever is the smaller number,

the Chief Counting Officer must give a direction to regional counting officers to

have all the votes in their region re-counted.’.

Committee of the whole House Proceedings: 18 October 2010
70

Parliamentary Voting System and Constituencies Bill, continued

Edward Miliband

Sadiq Khan

Chris Bryant

Mr Peter Hain

Negatived on division  353

Schedule  2,  page  49,  line  15,  at end insert—

‘(aa)
certify as respects the votes cast in each parliamentary constituency

within his area—

(i)
the number of ballot papers counted by him in that parliamentary

constituency; and

(ii)
the number of votes cast in favour and against to the question

asked in the referendum.’.

The Deputy Prime Minister

Agreed to  279

Schedule  2,  page  50,  leave out lines 34 and 35 and insert ‘relevant registration officer’.

The Deputy Prime Minister

Agreed to  280

Schedule  2,  page  51,  line  11,  at end insert—

    ‘(3)
For the purposes of paragraph (1) the relevant registration officer is—

(a)
the registration officer of the local authority in whose area the

counting officer’s voting area is situated, or

(b)
if the voting area comprises any part of the area of more than one local

authority, the registration officer of the local authority in whose area

the greater or greatest (as the case may be) number of electors is

registered.


In this paragraph “local authority” has the same meaning as in paragraph 2A

of Schedule 1.’.

The Deputy Prime Minister

Agreed to  281

Schedule  2,  page  54,  line  9,  after ‘for’ insert ‘United Kingdom’.

The Deputy Prime Minister

Agreed to  282

Schedule  2,  page  54,  leave out line 10.

The Deputy Prime Minister

Mr Graham Allen

Sheila Gilmore

Simon Hart

Tristram Hunt

Mrs Eleanor Laing

Agreed to  232

Schedule  2,  page  54,  leave out lines 11 to 14 and insert—

‘At present, the UK uses the “first past the post”

system to elect MPs to the House of Commons.

Should the “alternative vote” system be used instead?’.

The Deputy Prime Minister

Agreed to  283

Schedule  2,  page  54,  line  14,  at end insert—

Committee of the whole House Proceedings: 18 October 2010
71

Parliamentary Voting System and Constituencies Bill, continued

‘Vote (X) in one box only.’.

The Deputy Prime Minister

Agreed to  284

Schedule  2,  page  54,  line  20,  after ‘for’ insert ‘United Kingdom’.

The Deputy Prime Minister

Agreed to  285

Schedule  2,  page  54,  line  26,  at end insert—


‘The official mark may be printed on either the front or the back of the ballot

paper if it does not consist of or include any letters or numbers; if it does, it

must be printed on the back of the ballot paper.’.

The Deputy Prime Minister

Agreed to  286

Schedule  2,  page  55,  line  1,  after ‘for’ insert ‘United Kingdom’.

The Deputy Prime Minister

Agreed to  287

Schedule  2,  page  55,  line  3,  leave out ‘once’ and insert ‘in one box’.

The Deputy Prime Minister

Agreed to  288

Schedule  2,  page  55,  line  5,  leave out from ‘question’ to end of line 7.

The Deputy Prime Minister

Agreed to  289

Schedule  2,  page  55,  line  10,  after ‘for’ insert ‘United Kingdom’.

The Deputy Prime Minister

Agreed to  290

Schedule  2,  page  55,  line  19,  after ‘for’ insert ‘United Kingdom’.

The Deputy Prime Minister

Agreed to  291

Schedule  2,  page  55,  line  20,  leave out ‘once’ and insert ‘in one box’.

The Deputy Prime Minister

Agreed to  292

Schedule  2,  page  55,  line  21,  leave out paragraph 7 and insert—


‘The words mentioned in paragraph 6(a) must be printed in bold characters.


The words on the front of the ballot paper indicating the alternative forms of

answer to the referendum question must be printed in bold capital letters.’.

The Deputy Prime Minister

Agreed to  293

Schedule  2,  page  55,  line  29,  leave out ‘question’ and insert ‘the direction “Vote

(X) in one box only”’.

Committee of the whole House Proceedings: 18 October 2010
72

Parliamentary Voting System and Constituencies Bill, continued

The Deputy Prime Minister

Agreed to  294

Schedule  2,  page  57,  line  15,  leave out ‘once’ and insert ‘in one box’.

The Deputy Prime Minister

Agreed to  295

Schedule  2,  page  58,  line  32,  leave out ‘once’ and insert ‘in one box’.

The Deputy Prime Minister

Agreed to  296

Schedule  2,  page  60,  line  7,  leave out ‘ONCE’ and insert ‘in ONE box’.

The Deputy Prime Minister

Agreed to  297

Schedule  2,  page  63,  line  17,  leave out ‘ONCE’ and insert ‘in ONE box’.

The Deputy Prime Minister

Agreed to  298

Schedule  2,  page  67,  line  9,  leave out ‘once’ and insert ‘in one box’.

The Deputy Prime Minister

Agreed to  299

Schedule  2,  page  67,  line  14,  at end insert ‘so please ignore this poll card’.

The Deputy Prime Minister

Agreed to  300

Schedule  2,  page  67,  line  24,  leave out from beginning to the end of line 36 on page

68.

The Deputy Prime Minister

Agreed to  301

Schedule  2,  page  70,  line  16,  leave out from beginning to the end of line 9 on page

72.

The Deputy Prime Minister

Agreed to  302

Schedule  2,  page  73,  line  2,  at end insert—

‘Referendum on the voting system for United Kingdom parliamentary elections’.

The Deputy Prime Minister

Agreed to  303

Schedule  2,  page  73,  line  7,  leave out ‘once’ and insert ‘in one box’.

The Deputy Prime Minister

Agreed to  304

Schedule  2,  page  73,  line  16,  after ‘for’ insert ‘United Kingdom’.

Schedule, as amended, Agreed to.

Committee of the whole House Proceedings: 18 October 2010
73

Parliamentary Voting System and Constituencies Bill, continued

The Deputy Prime Minister

Agreed to  173

Schedule  3,  page  76,  line  14,  leave out sub-paragraph (9).

The Deputy Prime Minister

Agreed to  174

Schedule  3,  page  77,  line  47,  at end insert—

    ‘(9)
The record kept under sub-paragraph (8) must be retained by the registration

officer for the period of twelve months beginning with the date of the poll for

the referendum.’.

The Deputy Prime Minister

Agreed to  175

Schedule  3,  page  83,  line  12,  at end insert—

  ‘(11)
The record kept under sub-paragraph (10) must be retained by the registration

officer for the period of twelve months beginning with the date of the poll for

referendum.’.

The Deputy Prime Minister

Agreed to  176

Schedule  3,  page  83,  line  28,  leave out ‘(subject to any conditions prescribed by the

relevant regulations)’.

The Deputy Prime Minister

Agreed to  177

Schedule  3,  page  85,  line  18,  leave out sub-paragraph (8).

The Deputy Prime Minister

Agreed to  305

Schedule  3,  page  92,  line  13,  after ‘FOR’ insert ‘UNITED KINGDOM’.

Schedule, as amended, Agreed to.

The Deputy Prime Minister

Agreed to  178

Schedule  4,  page  93,  line  28,  leave out ‘(subject to sub-paragraph (4)(b))’.

The Deputy Prime Minister

Agreed to  179

Schedule  4,  page  93,  line  32,  leave out sub-paragraphs (4) and (5).

The Deputy Prime Minister

Agreed to  180

Schedule  4,  page  94,  leave out lines 7 to 27.

The Deputy Prime Minister

Agreed to  181

Schedule  4,  page  94,  line  38,  leave out ‘for “this Part” substitute’ and insert ‘after

“this Part” insert’.

Committee of the whole House Proceedings: 18 October 2010
74

Parliamentary Voting System and Constituencies Bill, continued

The Deputy Prime Minister

Agreed to  182

Schedule  4,  page  100,  leave out lines 4 and 5 and insert—

‘In subsection (4), for the words after “whatever means”

substitute—


“and the reference to a forecast as to the result of

the referendum includes a reference to a forecast

as to the number or proportion of votes expected

to be cast for each answer to the referendum

question in any region, voting area or other

area.”’.

The Deputy Prime Minister

Agreed to  183

Schedule  4,  page  100,  line  17,  leave out ‘1(5)’ and insert ‘1B’.

The Deputy Prime Minister

Agreed to  306

Schedule  4,  page  100,  line  24,  leave out from beginning to the end of line 11 on

page 101.

The Deputy Prime Minister

Agreed to  307

Schedule  4,  page  101,  line  31,  leave out from ‘a’ to end of line 41 and insert

‘counting officer or Regional Counting Officer under paragraph 2A of Schedule 1 to the

Parliamentary Voting System and Constituencies Act 2010,’.

The Deputy Prime Minister

Agreed to  308

Schedule  4,  page  104,  line  9,  leave out ‘once’ insert ‘in one box’.

The Deputy Prime Minister

Agreed to  184

Schedule  4,  page  104,  line  16,  at end insert—

‘In subsection (7)—

(a)
for “returning officer at a parliamentary election

or a local government election” substitute

“counting officer”;

(b)
for “the election” substitute “the referendum”.

In subsection (9), for “returning officer” substitute

“counting officer”.’.

The Deputy Prime Minister

Agreed to  185

Schedule  4,  page  104,  line  29,  at end insert—

‘1A(1)
In relation to England and Wales, section 13B of the 1983 Act has effect for

the purposes of the referendum as if a reference to an election to which that

section applies included a reference to the referendum.



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