GREATER LONDON AUTHORITY (REFERENDUM) BILL
Affirmative powers
16. There are
two delegated powers in this bill which are subject to affirmative
procedure. The first is a power to postpone the date of the referendum
(clause 1). The second is a power to make the necessary arrangements
for the conduct of the referendum (clause 4(2)). This power extends
to the application or modification of any enactment, but this
is consistent with similar legislation, including the recent Referendums
(Scotland and Wales) Act 1997.[1]
Part II
17. Part II
of the bill deals with advice on electoral arrangements for Greater
London. Clause 7 empowers the Secretary of State to direct the
Local Government Commission for England to submit to him a report
recommending, inter alia, the electoral areas into which
Greater London should be divided and the number of members that
should be elected for each electoral area. Clauses 8 to 10 give
the Secretary of State further powers in relation to the report.
18. Individually,
clauses 7 to 10 contain some very significant powers, for which
no parliamentary control is provided. The explanatory memorandum
to the bill explains that under Clause 7, "The Secretary
of State's direction to the Commission must specify the total
number of electoral areas and the total number of members for
which the recommendations are to provide." Clause 8 deals
with the preparation and submission of the report and Clause 9
empowers the Secretary of State to direct the Commission to review
its recommendations and to submit a further report making revised
recommendations. Clause 10 grants further wide powers to the Secretary
of State to give directions to the Commission. Taken cumulatively,
the powers in Clauses 7 to 10 are very wide indeed, and could
enable the Minister significantly to affect the outcome of the
Commission's reports by the way in which he exercises his discretion.
Bearing in mind the fact that the bill is dealing with a wholly
novel procedure, the Committee considers that the affirmative
resolution procedure is justified for these powers.
19. In
respect of Clause 2 of the bill, the Department's explanatory
memorandum explains that orders under this Clause will be subject
to affirmative resolution procedure to "reflect the fact
that, although the matters to be dealt with in the Orders are
essentially technical and procedural, they are nonetheless sufficiently
important to merit the scrutiny which will follow in consequence
of their being debated in both Houses." The Committee agrees
with the Department's approach to orders made under Clause 2,
and invites the House to consider whether, by parity of reasoning,
a similar approach should be adopted to the powers under Clauses
7 to 10. While it is true that further legislation will be needed
if there is to be established a Greater London Authority, the
advice of the Local Government Commission obtained under this
bill will clearly have a strong influence on that bill and Parliamentary
input at the outset appears to be the wiser course.
Electoral arrangements
20. Neither
the bill nor its explanatory memorandum explains whether the electoral
arrangements provided in Part II will be made before or after
the referendum has taken place. The Committee assumes that they
will be made after the referendum, as not insignificant amounts
of public money will be involved. The House may wish to seek
reassurance from the Minister on this point.
Recommendation
21. The Committee
wishes to draw the attention of the House to the potential width
of the Secretary of State's powers under Part II of the bill and
the case for subjecting them to Parliamentary control. There is
nothing else in the bill to which we draw | 