Lords Amendments to the Parliamentary Voting System and Constituencies Bill

Session 2010 - 11
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Lords Amendments to the Parliamentary Voting System and Constituencies Bill

LORDS amendments to the
Parliamentary Voting System and Constituencies Bill
[The page and line references are to HL Bill 26, the bill as first printed for the Lords.]
Clause 1
1
Page 1, line 5, at end insert—

“(1A)
If less than 40% of the electorate vote in the referendum, the result shall not

be binding.”
2
Page 1, line 6, leave out “on 5 May” and insert “before 31 October”
3
Page 1, line 6, at end insert—

“(2A)
The referendum is to be held on 5 May 2011 unless before then an order is

made under subsection (2B).

(2B)
If the Minister is satisfied that it is impossible or impracticable for the

referendum to be held on 5 May 2011, or that it cannot be conducted

properly if held on that day, the Minister may by order appoint a later day

as the day on which the referendum is to be held.

(2C)
Where a day is appointed under subsection (2B), the Minister may by order

make supplemental or consequential provision, including provision

modifying or amending this Act or another enactment (and, in particular,

provision modifying or amending this Act as regards the meaning of

“voting area” or “counting officer”).

(2D)
An order under this section may not be made unless a draft of the order has

been laid before, and approved by a resolution of, each House of

Parliament.”
Clause 4
4
Page 3, line 19, at end insert—

“( )
If any of the elections referred to in subsections (2) to (4) are not held on the

same day as the referendum, this Part has effect with any necessary

adaptations and in particular—

Bill 147 55/1

2

(a)
if the Welsh Assembly general election in 2011 is not held on that

day, subsection (2) and Schedule 6 do not apply (and Part 3 of

Schedule 4 applies with the necessary adaptations);

(b)
if the Scottish parliamentary general election in 2011 is not held on

that day, subsection (3) and Schedule 7 do not apply (and Part 3 of

Schedule 4 applies with the necessary adaptations);

(c)
if any of the elections referred to in subsection (4) are not held on

that day, that subsection and Schedule 8 either do not apply or

apply only in relation to the elections that are held on that day.”
5
Page 3, line 19, at end insert—

“(8A)
Where a day is appointed by an order under section 1(2B)—

(a)
if that day is the same as the date of a poll mentioned in subsection

(1), the Minister may by order make provision disapplying that

subsection or any of paragraphs (a) to (c) of it;

(b)
if that day is the same as the date of a poll mentioned in subsection

(2) or (3), the Minister may by order make provision disapplying

the subsection in question;

(c)
if that day is the same as the date of a poll mentioned in subsection

(4), the Minister may by order make provision disapplying that

subsection or either of paragraphs (b) and (c) of it.

(8B)
Where a day is appointed by an order under section 1(2B), and that day is

the same as the date of a poll not mentioned in subsections (1) to (4), the

Minister may by order—

(a)
provide that the polls are to be taken together, and

(b)
make provision for and in connection with the combination of the

poll.

(8C)
An order containing provision made under subsection (8A) or (8B)—

(a)
may make supplemental or consequential provision, including

provision modifying or amending this Act or another enactment

(and, in particular, provision modifying or amending this Act as

regards the meaning of “voting area” or “counting officer”);

(b)
may not be made unless a draft of the order has been laid before,

and approved by a resolution of, each House of Parliament.”
Clause 6
6
Page 5, line 3, at end insert—

“( )
Schedule 19C to the 2000 Act (civil sanctions), and any order under Part 5

of that Schedule, have effect as if offences under paragraph 8(1) to (12) of

the Schedule set out in Schedule 9 to this Act were offences prescribed in

an order under that Part.”
Clause 7
7
Page 5, line 34, at end insert—

““registration officer” has the meaning given in section 8 of the 1983

Act;”
8
Page 5, line 36, at end insert—

“( )
In section 1(1A)—

3

(a)
“the electorate” is defined as those persons entitled to vote in the

referendum, as defined in section 2;

(b)
the turnout figure is to be calculated on the basis that 100% turnout

is defined as the total number of individuals who are entitled to

vote in the referendum, as defined in section 2; and

(c)
“vote” is defined as votes counted under Part 1 of this Act.”
Clause 8
9
Page 6, line 16, leave out from “that” to end of line 17 and insert “subsection, but

(b)
does not affect any election held before the first parliamentary

general election following that day.”
Clause 10
10
Page 8, line 36, leave out “, with or without modifications,”
11
Page 8, leave out lines 38 to 42 and insert—

“(5B)
Where—

(a)
a Boundary Commission has submitted a report under subsection

(1) above (but no draft under subsection (5A) above has yet been

laid in relation to the report),

(b)
the Commission notifies the Secretary of State that the

recommendations contained in the report are to have effect with

specified modifications, and

(c)
the Commission submits to the Secretary of State a statement of the

reasons for those modifications,


the draft under subsection (5A) above shall give effect to the

recommendations with those modifications.”
12
Page 9, line 1, leave out from beginning to “states” and insert “Subsections (5A) and

(5B) above do not apply where each of the reports mentioned in subsection (5)

above”
13
Page 9, line 6, leave out from “Council),” to end of line 7 and insert “for “a

statement” there is substituted “the statement submitted under section 3(5B)(c)

above”.”
14
Page 9, line 7, at end insert—

“( )
In Schedule 1 to the 1986 Act (the Boundary Commissions), in paragraph

5(d) (assessor officers of the Boundary Commission for Northern

Ireland)—

(a)
for “and the” there is substituted “, the”;

(b)
at the end there is inserted “and the Chief Survey Officer of Land

and Property Services”.”
15
Page 9, line 7, at end insert—

“( )
In paragraph 6 of that Schedule (assistant Commissioners)—

(a)
in sub-paragraph (1), for the words after “assistant Commissioners”

there is substituted “to assist the Commission in the discharge of

their functions.”;

(b)
in sub-paragraph (2), for “inquiry” there is substituted “matter”.”

4

Clause 11
16
Page 9, line 23, after “4(2),” insert “5A,”
17
Page 9, line 23, after “6(2)” insert “, 6A(2)”
18
Page 10, line 12, at end insert—

“(c)
boundaries of existing constituencies”
19
Page 10, line 22, at end insert—

“Exceptional circumstances

5A
If, but only if, a Boundary Commission are satisfied that—

(a)
it is necessary to do so in order to achieve a viable

constituency, and

(b)
such necessity arises from special geographical

considerations or local ties, as defined in rule 5(1)(a) or (d)

above, of an exceptionally compelling nature,


the Boundary Commission may decide that the electorate of the

constituency shall be—

no less than 92.5% of the United Kingdom electoral quota;

and

no more than 107.5% of that quota.”
20
Page 10, line 30, at end insert—

“Isle of Wight

6A  (1)
All parts of the Isle of Wight must be included in a constituency

which is wholly in the Isle of Wight.

      (2)
Rule 2 does not apply to any such constituency.”
21
Page 11, line 22, at end insert—

“( )
Where the figure given by sub-paragraph (3) above is the same

for two or more parts of the United Kingdom, the part to which

a constituency is to be allocated shall be the one with the smaller

or smallest actual electorate.”
22
Page 11, line 41, leave out from “of” to end of line 1 on page 12 and insert “counties

and their electoral divisions, districts and their wards, London boroughs and their

wards and the City of London,”
23
Page 12, line 2, leave out “and county boroughs” and insert “, county boroughs,

electoral divisions, communities and community wards”
24
Page 12, line 3, leave out from first “of” to “, and” in line 5 and insert “local

government areas and the electoral wards into which they are divided under

section 1 of the Local Governance (Scotland) Act 2004”
Clause 12
25
Page 13, leave out lines 4 to 22 and insert—

“(1)
Once a Boundary Commission have decided what constituencies they

propose to recommend in a report under section 3(1)(a) above—

5

(a)
the Commission shall take such steps as they think fit to inform

people in each of the proposed constituencies—

(i)
what the proposals are,

(ii)
that a copy of the proposals is open to inspection at a

specified place within the proposed constituency, and

(iii)
that written representations with respect to the proposals

may be made to the Commission during a specified period

of 12 weeks (“the initial consultation period”);

(b)
the Commission shall cause public hearings to be held during the

period beginning with the fifth week of the initial consultation

period and ending with the tenth week of it.

(2)
Subsection (1)(a)(ii) above does not apply to a constituency with respect to

which no alteration is proposed.

(3)
Schedule 2A to this Act, which makes further provision about public

hearings under subsection (1)(b) above, has effect.

(4)
After the end of the initial consultation period the Commission—

(a)
shall publish, in such manner as they think fit, representations

made as mentioned in subsection (1)(a) above and records of public

hearings held under subsection (1)(b) above;

(b)
shall take such steps as they think fit to inform people in the

proposed constituencies that further written representations with

respect to the things published under paragraph (a) above may be

made to the Commission during a specified period of four weeks

(“the secondary consultation period”).

(5)
If after the end of the secondary consultation period the Commission are

minded to revise their original proposals so as to recommend different

constituencies, they shall take such steps as they see fit to inform people in

each of those revised proposed constituencies—

(a)
what the revised proposals are,

(b)
that a copy of the revised proposals is open to inspection at a

specified place within the revised proposed constituency, and

(c)
that written representations with respect to the revised proposals

may be made to the Commission during a specified period of eight

weeks.

(6)
Subsection (5) above does not apply to any proposals to make further

revisions.

(7)
Steps taken under subsection (4) or (5) above need not be of the same kind

as those taken under subsection (1) above.

(8)
A Boundary Commission shall take into consideration—

(a)
written representations duly made to them as mentioned in

subsection (1)(a), (4)(b) or (5)(c) above, and

(b)
representations made at public hearings under subsection (1)(b)

above.

(9)
Except as provided by this section and Schedule 2A to this Act, a Boundary

Commission shall not cause any public hearing or inquiry to be held for the

purposes of a report under this Act.

(10)
Where a Boundary Commission publish—

6

(a)
general information about how they propose to carry out their

functions (including, in the case of the Boundary Commission for

England, information about the extent (if any) to which they

propose to take into account the boundaries mentioned in rule 5(2)

of Schedule 2 to this Act), or

(b)
anything else to which subsection (1), (4) or (5) above does not

apply,


it is for the Commission to determine whether to invite representations

and, if they decide to do so, the procedure that is to apply.””
26
Page 13, line 22, at end insert—

“(1A)
After Schedule 2 to the 1986 Act there is inserted the Schedule set out in

Schedule (Public hearings about Boundary Commission proposals) to this Act.”
After Clause 13
27
Insert the following new Clause—

“Review of reduction in number of constituencies

(1)
The Minister must make arrangements—

(a)
for a committee to carry out a review of the effects of the reduction

in the number of constituencies brought about by section 11;

(b)
for the findings of the review to be published.

(2)
A majority of the members of the committee are to be Members of the

House of Commons.

(3)
Arrangements under subsection (1)(a) are to be made no earlier than 1 June

2015 and no later than 30 November 2015.

(4)
In this section “the Minister” means the Lord President of the Council or the

Secretary of State.”
Schedule 1
28
Page 19, line 19, leave out “appointed under section 8 of the 1983 Act”
29
Page 20, line 13, leave out “appointed under section 8 of the 1983 Act”
30
Page 20, line 13, at end insert—

    “( )
The Chief Counting Officer must take whatever steps the officer thinks

appropriate to facilitate co-operation between that officer and the

officers to whom sub-paragraph (3) applies in taking any steps under

sub-paragraph (1) or (2).”
31
Page 24, line 26, at end insert—

    “( )
The Chief Counting Officer is entitled to recover expenses incurred by

that officer for or in connection with the referendum if—

(a)
the expenses are of a kind that would otherwise have been

incurred by counting officers or Regional Counting Officers, and

(b)
the Chief Counting Officer considered that it would be more

economical for the expenses to be incurred by that officer

instead.”