Scottish Parliament (Candidates) Bill [HL]

My Lords, I shall be brief in reply because I know that the noble Lord, Lord Laird, has a very important Bill in relation to Northern Ireland, which needs proper consideration. I also thank my noble friend Lord Evans for his usual unfailing courtesy, to me personally, in discussions in the run-up to the debate on this Bill, and the way in which he dealt with it. It appears, although I have put some really powerful arguments, that I have not yet convinced noble Lords of the arguments in favour of the Bill. However, I am reassured by the number of quiet assurances that I have had over the past few weeks from noble friends who, for understandable reasons, are unable to be present today. That gives me real assurance to be encouraged to proceed further with this Bill, although I know that that will disappoint the Opposition—and, even more perhaps, the Government. I say that because from time to time I am accused of being not just a loyalist but maybe an arch-loyalist. I cannot remember the last time I voted against the Government, in either House, when I was a Member in the Commons or since I have been here, but this is an area on which I have really grave concerns about what is happening. The Arbuthnott commission was set up to deal with non-common boundaries in Scotland and the four different electoral systems that we will have when local government is set up—a different system at each level in Scotland. I have said right from the start that it will cause confusion and chaos and I think that the Secretary of State is wrong in saying that there should be no changes in this regard. I feel strongly about the matter, and I have said so to the Secretary of State, to the Under-Secretary of State and to my noble friend Lord Evans, and I am sure that it is even getting through to some officials in the Scotland Office and elsewhere that this is an area in which I think we are getting ourselves into difficulty. I confess to being partisan. In fact, I think that I am almost as partisan as the noble Lord, Lord Forsyth—in a different way and on a different side of course, in relation to this matter. When he was making his criticism of me, I found it somewhat strange that he forgot that, as Secretary of State for Scotland, he ruled Scotland without any mandate from the Scottish people for so long. What also came through from both the Liberal Democrat and the Tory Benches was a worry that, if this is implemented, they will not have enough candidates of sufficient calibre to put up for both the constituency and the list seats. As far as the Labour Party is concerned—unofficially, of course; I do not speak for the Government—we will have enough candidates of top calibre to put up in every constituency and for every list. Penultimately, I, like the noble Lords, Lord Roberts and Lord Forsyth, and others, look forward very much to discussing this issue when we discuss the Government of Wales Bill. Some of us will be consistent, even if Her Majesty’s Government find themselves unable to do so. Maybe it will be the first occasion where I am not able to vote with the Government in this place. A number of other points have been made during this debate, but there is a very important Bill on Northern Ireland to come, so I will not deal with them here. I will press on with the Bill, however, and ask your Lordships to give it a Second Reading so that I and other noble Lords can deal with all those points at a later stage. On Question, Bill read a second time, and committed to a Committee of the Whole House.