Appendix 2: Letter from the Deputy Prime Minister
to the Chair of the Committee
Parliamentary reform Bills
The Fixed-term Parliaments Bill and Parliamentary
Voting System and Constituencies Bill were both published on 22
July 2010. I enclose a copy of the Bills for your consideration
and would welcome any comments from yourself and the members of
the Political and Constitutional Reform Select Committee.
I note you have called for papers with a response
deadline of 3 September 2010. I expect that both bills will have
their Second Readings during the September sittings.
Fixed-term Parliaments Bill
The provisions contained within the Bill stem from
the Coalition's Programme for Government. In my statement to the
House of 5 July I made clear the provisions set out in the Bill,
will not only strengthen Parliament's power over the executive,
but also confer new powers on Parliament in respect of dissolution.
The Bill makes Statutory provision for:
· Parliamentary
general elections to occur every five years on the first Thursday
in May;
· General
elections only to be held earlier than this if either two-thirds
of all MPs vote in favour of dissolution or there has been a vote
of no confidence in the Government and an alternative Government
has failed to gain the confidence of the House of Commons within
14 days;
· The
automatic dissolution of Parliament in advance of scheduled general
elections, meaning the Queen's prerogative power to dissolve Parliament
will be abolished;
· Power
for the date of the poll for a scheduled General Election to be
moved, in exceptional circumstances, by two months either before
or after the scheduled date of poll by the Prime Minister by affirmative
Order approved by both Houses.
The Bill will not alter the arrangements for a vote
of no confidence in the Government, which will continue to be
passed with a simple majority. Such a vote will trigger a period
of 14 days and if an alternative Government is unable to secure
the confidence of the House of Commons during this time, Parliament
will be dissolved and a general election will occur.
Parliament does not currently have the power to dissolve
itself and the Bill will provide the House of Commons with a power
to vote for dissolution. The Bill provides that where at least
two-thirds of the House vote in favour of dissolution, Parliament
will be dissolved. This is the same threshold for dissolution
votes as that laid out in legislation passed by the UK Parliament
for the devolved legislatures. No post-War Government has had
a majority of two-thirds.
It is important that a Government elected after an
un-scheduled early election has a full term to allow it to plan
and implement its policies. Therefore, where an early election
takes place, the timetable will be 're-set' and the ensuing Parliament
will last for five years from the previous first Thursday in May.
This will deliver certainty as to when the next election will
be and mean elections do not have to happen in quick succession.
We have registered the points that have been raised
in relation to coincidence with elections to the Devolved Legislatures
in Scotland, Wales and Northern Ireland in 2015 and will continue
to work with interested parties and electoral administrators to
consider the implications.
Parliamentary Voting System and Constituencies
Bill
As I made clear in my statement on 5 July, this Government
is committed to cutting the cost of politics and ensuring that
every vote carries more equal weight. The Government also believes
it is important to give people a choice over their electoral system.
This Bill therefore provides for a referendum whether the Alternative
Vote System should replace the First Past the Post System for
Westminster Parliamentary elections. The referendum will be held
on 5 May 2011. As well as setting the date and question for the
referendum and providing the detailed conduct rules which will
govern how the referendum is run, the Bill contains the changes
to the rules of the conduct of Parliamentary elections that would
be necessary to implement the Alternative Vote System in the event
of a 'yes' vote. In that event, commencement of these changes
will be linked to implementation of the new parliamentary boundaries.
The Bill also amends the Parliamentary Constituencies
Act 1986 to set the size of the Commons at 600 Members and recast
the rules for the distribution of seats to ensure that constituencies
are more equal in size. The Boundary Commissions will be required
to set new constituencies containing a number of registered electors
that is within 5% of a single United Kingdom quota. There are
a small number of tightly drawn exceptions on the basis of unique
geography—namely Orkney and Shetland and Na h-Eileanan an
Iar (the Western Isles). In order to prevent the creation of geographically
large and sparsely populated constituencies, no constituency will
be permitted to exceed 13,000 km2, which is slightly
larger than the largest existing constituency. As a consequence
of the introduction of a single UK quota, the Bill will also contain
provision to address rounding effects of a certain size, a difficulty
which arises only in Northern Ireland (owing to the smaller electorate
relative to the rest of the UK).
The boundaries review process will also be reformed;
representations on proposals will be submitted in writing only,
but the period for submission on those representations will be
extended to three months (from one at present). Revised proposals
will be consulted on for a second time. These measures should
enable the Commissions to meet the time scales set down in the
Bill—for a review to be completed before October 2013, and
a further review to be completed every five years from that point
in, which will ensure that constituency boundaries remain accurate
and fair.
These issues are fundamental to this House and to
our democracy. I look forward to the process of scrutiny and debate
over the coming months.
I have written in similar terms to Baroness Jay,
Chair of the Lords Constitution Committee.
22 July 2010
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