Parliamentary Voting System and Constituencies Bill

I am grateful to my right hon. Friend for giving way, but he will be aware that the position of the Electoral Commission that he has just outlined is a dramatic reversal of that adopted by it in 2002. Is he also aware that one of the reasons it gave for changing its mind on the current occasion was:"““If we oppose combination but it goes ahead anyway, we then have a major role in conducting the referendum—potentially undermining our own credibility””?" It does not sound like a very strong-minded quango under these circumstances. Is it one of the quangos my right hon. Friend is thinking of chopping?