Electoral Administration Bill

moved Amendment No. 117:"After Clause 69, insert the following new clause—" ““PRE-CONSOLIDATION AMENDMENTS (1)   The Secretary of State may by order make such amendments of the enactments relating to the representation of the people as in his opinion facilitate or are otherwise desirable in connection with the consolidation of some or all of those enactments. (2)   The enactments relating to the representation of the people are— (a)   the Representation of the People Act 1983; (b)   the Representation of the People Act 1985; (c)   the Representation of the People Act 1989; (d)   the Representation of the People Act 1993; (e)   the Representation of the People Act 2000; (f)   the Electoral Administration Act 2006; (g)   the Elections (Northern Ireland) Act 1985; (h)   the Electoral Fraud (Northern Ireland) Act 2002; (i)   the Northern Ireland (Miscellaneous Provisions) Act 2006; (j)   an enactment referring to any enactment falling within paragraphs (a) to (i). (3)   An order under this section must not come into force unless an Act consolidating the enactments amended by the order (with or without other enactments relating to the representation of the people) has been passed. (4)   An order under this section must not come into force until immediately before that Act comes into force. (5)   Subsection (6) applies if the provisions of that Act come into force at different times. (6)   So much of an order under this section as amends an enactment repealed and re-enacted by a provision of that Act comes into force immediately before that provision. (7)   An order under this section must not be made unless the Secretary of State first consults the Electoral Commission. (8)   An order under this section must be made by statutory instrument, but no such order may be made unless a draft of the statutory instrument containing the order has been laid before, and approved by a resolution of, each House of Parliament. (9)   An order under this section must not make any provision which would, if it were included in an Act of the Scottish Parliament, be within the legislative competence of that Parliament.”” The noble Baroness said: My Lords, this amendment helps prepare the ground for the possibility of a consolidation of the key primary legislation from 1983 onwards, relating to UK parliamentary elections and local elections in England and Wales. The Representation of the People Act 1983 was the last serious attempt to consolidate the provisions of electoral law in the UK. However, in the intervening years, there have been a number of key enactments, including significant changes and additions to the body of electoral law. The growing number of statutes with which those who involve themselves in elections have to familiarise themselves have made it increasingly difficult to master. Of course this, in turn, makes it more likely that errors will be made in any given election, and there have accordingly been increasing calls from key stakeholder groups—not least political parties themselves—for a consolidation of electoral law. We have considerable sympathy with these calls. The act of consolidation itself will require a substantial Bill to be brought forward when parliamentary time allows, following significant work by the Law Commission. While I cannot, at this time, commit to bringing forward such a substantive consolidation Bill within a specific timeframe, I hope noble Lords will accept the amendment as a step in the right direction that will help pave the way for substantive consolidation. The amendment allows the Secretary of State to make an order, amending provisions of any of the Acts listed in subsection (2). The purpose of such legislation would be to facilitate the substantive consolidation of the provisions in the Acts to which the amendments proposed in the order related. Crucially, subsections (3) to (6) tie the timing of the use of the order-making power very closely to the enactment of substantive consolidation legislation. Thus, such an order—or relevant parts of it—could in practice only come into force in the window of time between substantive consolidation legislation gaining Royal Assent, and such an Act—or relevant parts of it—coming into force. Further safeguards against any inappropriate use of the order-making power are set out in subsections (7) and (8), which respectively require the Electoral Commission to be consulted on a proposed order, and a draft of any order to be actively approved by resolution of each House of Parliament before it can be made. Subsection (8) recognises the terms of the devolution settlement, in that any order under the proposed new clause could not deal with aspects of electoral law that would now be dealt with by an Act of the Scottish Parliament. Pre-consolidation amendment order-making powers as proposed here have recent precedent, in the form of Section 36 of the National Health Service Reform and Health Care Professions Act 2002, and Section 407 of the Communications Act 2003. They are considered to have great value by enabling errors and inconsistencies in earlier enactments to be removed from the statute book, prior to substantive consolidation, while remaining within the consolidation requirement, in that any amendments do not change the substantive meaning of the law. I encourage noble Lords to accept this amendment. I beg to move.