Scottish Parliament (Elections etc.) (Amendment) Order 2007

The order deals with an aspect of our life which is vital when we pin our faith on democracy. As the Electoral Commission’s briefing states, democracy depends on public confidence in the electoral system. The Scottish elections came near to making a nonsense of that process. More than 140,000 votes were rejected, which is the proportional equivalent of 1 million in a UK general election. We are always interested in finding out what went wrong. Some of the causes mentioned by the Minister are surely obvious: too many systems, too much novelty, and the bright idea of introducing everything on the same day. We would like to be sure that any inquiry gets to the bottom of things, but we must be doubly careful that nothing is done to set a precedent which could be unscrupulously used in the future. If any change in electoral legislation is contemplated, the proper safeguard is that it should be in place before, rather than after, the conduct of the poll. I hope that enough care is being taken in considering this legislation and expect the Minister to limit any change to as specific an area as possible. A great many of us will have received a brief from the Electoral Commission, in which it clearly states two things: first, the major obstacle that it faced was its inability to access the rejected ballot papers; and, secondly, it considers that any measure that we pass should be restricted to the current circumstances. Any powers that were required in this regard could have been achieved under Section 12(1)(b) of the Scotland Act, whereas we notice that the Minister is calling on the powers in Section 12(1)(a). Access to rejected ballot papers is allowed under the Scottish Parliament (Elections etc.) Order 2007 but, as the Minister explained, only for the purpose of instituting a prosecution or taking up a case. I understand that that route is not being pursued. Very properly, these provisions are subject to the judgment of a Court of Session or a sheriff. Here we are being presented with a statutory instrument to give the Electoral Commission access to all ballot papers incorporated into an ongoing legal instrument which can be triggered by a politically-appointed body requesting permission from the Secretary of State. Can the Minister tell the Grand Committee why it was not considered sufficient to give powers limited as the Electoral Commission recommends? The need for ongoing powers would, very properly, then have been part of the Electoral Commission’s review, and that, I expect, is what it would have wished. There is one point on which the Minister could offer clarification. The Explanatory Notes state that the provision is to do with the conduct of the elections for the Scottish Parliament, and that is perfectly clear; but the Explanatory Memorandum states at paragraph 5 that the instrument has UK extent. What is the meaning behind this provision? When these ballot papers are released, how many people will have access to them? They cannot be left lying around in some office. Will a person be identified and nominated as the person responsible? Will a requirement for how they should be sealed up again and returned be laid down? A further consideration is that under rule 70 of the Scottish Parliament (Elections etc.) Order 2007, any production and scrutiny of sealed electoral papers is available only after obtaining authority through a legal, not a political, channel. Can the Minister explain why the element of legal scrutiny of the necessity for investigation of sealed electoral material has not been included as part of this instrument? The Government have made a great issue of how every possible element of the judicial process should be totally separated from the political process. The electorate has received a great deal of assurance that electoral material is in the custody of the legal process, and here we are saying that a Secretary of State and a Government-appointed body can get together and have a look at the ballot papers. Surely this is not an issue that needs consideration for Scotland alone; it is something for our whole electoral process in the UK. Given the importance of this, I give notice to the Minister that we may consider moving a Motion when this returns to the Floor of the House.