House of Commons Public Bill Committee Proceedings

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Session 2010 - 11
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103

SUPPLEMENT TO THE VOTES AND PROCEEDINGS

Monday 25 October 2010

Committee of the whole House

Proceedings

Parliamentary Voting System and Constituencies Bill

[Fifth day]

FALLEN AMENDMENTS

Under the authority of the Chairman of Ways and Means, Amendments Nos. 206 to

217, 221, 222, 12, 218 to 220, 82, 120, 251, 224, 35, 139, 103, and 123, New Clauses NC3

to 5 and 13 to 16 and New Schedule NS1 have been removed from the Amendment paper,

having fallen as a result of proceedings in the Committee. The texts can be found in pages

286-356 of Committee of the whole House paper, dated 12 October 2010.

NEW CLAUSES

Press comment etc not subject to spending controls

The Deputy Prime Minister

Added  NC19

To move the following Clause:—

‘Expenses incurred in respect of the publication of any matter relating to the

referendum, other than an advertisement, in—

(a)
a newspaper or periodical,

(b)
a broadcast made by the British Broadcasting Corporation or Sianel

Pedwar Cymru, or

(c)
a programme included in any service licensed under Part 1 or 3 of the

Broadcasting Act 1990 or Part 1 or 2 of the Broadcasting Act 1996,

are not “referendum expenses” for the purposes of Part 7 of the 2000 Act.’.

Combination of polls

The Deputy Prime Minister

UNSPECIFIED  NC20

To move the following Clause:—

Committee of the whole House Proceedings: 25 October 2010
104

Parliamentary Voting System and Constituencies Bill, continued

‘(1)
Where the date of the poll for one or more of the following is the same as the date

of the poll for the referendum, the polls are to be taken together—

(a)
a local authority election in England;

(b)
a local referendum in England;
5
(c)
a mayoral election in England.

(2)
The polls for the referendum and the Welsh Assembly general election in 2011

are to be taken together.

(3)
The polls for the referendum and the Scottish parliamentary general election in

2011 are to be taken together.
10
(4)
Where the date of the poll for one or more of the following is the same as the date

of the poll for the referendum, the polls are to be taken together—

(a)
a Northern Ireland Assembly Election;

(b)
a Northern Ireland local election.

(5)
The following have effect—
15
Schedule [Combination of polls: England], in relation to the polls to be

taken together in England under subsection (1);

Schedule [Combination of polls: Wales], in relation to the polls to be taken

together in Wales under subsection (2);

Schedule [Combination of polls: Scotland], in relation to the polls to be
20
taken together in Scotland under subsection (3);

Schedule [Combination of polls: Northern Ireland], in relation to the polls

to be taken together in Northern Ireland under subsection (4).

(6)
Polls taken together under this section must not be taken together with any other

polls (despite provision in any enactment to the contrary).
25
(7)
Section 16 of the Representation of the People Act 1985 (postponement of poll at

parish elections etc) does not apply to any polls taken together under

subsection (1).

(8)
In this section—

“local authority election in England” means the election of a councillor of
30
any of the following—

(a)
a county council in England;

(b)
a district council in England;

(c)
a London borough council;

(d)
a parish council;
35
“local referendum in England” means a referendum held in England under

Part 2 of the Local Government Act 2000;

“mayoral election in England” means an election in England for the return

of an elected mayor as defined by section 39(1) of the Local Government

Act 2000;
40
“Northern Ireland Assembly election” means an election to the Northern

Ireland Assembly;

“Northern Ireland local election” means a local election as defined by

section 130(1) of the Electoral Law Act (Northern Ireland) 1962;

“Scottish parliamentary general election” means an ordinary election under
45
section 2 of the Scotland Act 1998;

“Welsh Assembly general election” means an ordinary election under

section 3 of the Government of Wales Act 2006.’.

Clause read a 2nd time, on division.

Committee of the whole House Proceedings: 25 October 2010
105

Parliamentary Voting System and Constituencies Bill, continued

As Amendments to The Deputy Prime Minister’s proposed New Clause (Combination

of polls) (NC20):—

Edward Miliband

Sadiq Khan

Chris Bryant

Mr Peter Hain

Negatived on division  (a)

Line  1,  leave out subsection (1) and insert—

‘(1)
Where the date of the poll for a local authority election in England is the

same as the date of the poll for the referendum, the polls are to be taken

together.’.

Edward Miliband

Sadiq Khan

Chris Bryant

Mr Peter Hain

Negatived on division  (b)

Line  10,  leave out subsection (4) and insert—

‘(4)
Where the date of the poll for a Northern Ireland Assembly Election is

the same as the date of the poll for the referendum, the polls are to be

taken together.’.

Edward Miliband

Sadiq Khan

Chris Bryant

Mr Peter Hain

Not called  (c)

Leave out lines 35 to 39.

Edward Miliband

Sadiq Khan

Chris Bryant

Mr Peter Hain

Not called  (d)

Leave out lines 42 and 43.

Clause added, on division.

Restrictions on ministerial conduct

Mr Bernard Jenkin

Mr David Davis

Mrs Eleanor Laing

Mr Edward Leigh

Mr Christopher Chope

Mr William Cash

Not selected  NC1

To move the following Clause:—

Committee of the whole House Proceedings: 25 October 2010
106

Parliamentary Voting System and Constituencies Bill, continued

‘(1)
Section 125 of the 2000 Act (restriction on publication etc. of promotional

material by central and local government etc) shall be amended as follows.

(2)
After subsection (2) there shall be inserted—

“(2A)
Any breach of the prohibition in subsection (2) above by or on behalf of

a Minister of the Crown shall be treated as a breach by that Minister of

any code in force from time to time governing the conduct of Ministers

of the Crown.”.

(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

Not selected  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

Not selected  NC6

To move the following Clause:—

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

Committee of the whole House Proceedings: 25 October 2010
107

Parliamentary Voting System and Constituencies Bill, continued

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

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

Negatived on division  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

Not selected  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:

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.

Committee of the whole House Proceedings: 25 October 2010
108

Parliamentary Voting System and Constituencies Bill, continued

(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.

(5)
An unweighted single vote shall be defined by the following equation

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

Not selected  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.

Committee of the whole House Proceedings: 25 October 2010
109

Parliamentary Voting System and Constituencies Bill, continued

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

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

European parliamentary elections: Saint-Lague method

Caroline Lucas

Jonathan Edwards

Not selected  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

Not selected  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

Not selected  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



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