Fixed-term Parliaments Bill

I am grateful to my hon. Friend for making that excellent point. When I look at those on the Government Front Bench, however, I see some nuggets of hope and principle, and I am sure they will listen carefully to the points that we are making. The Minister might be interested to know that, when the Americans were considering term lengths for their parliamentarians and for the presidency, they originally considered a three-year term for the House of Representatives and a seven-year term for the presidency and the Senate. Before the Minister gets too excited about the idea of a seven-year term, however, I should tell him that they also considered making it for one term only. Indeed, they argued that the Executive branch should not sully itself by seeking re-election. I suspect that he would be less keen on that principle. Slowly, however, over that summer, they moved towards a settled will among the 13 colonies. In fact, I should say 12 colonies because, as hon. Members will know, Rhode Island did not attend any part of the convention. They settled on a system of two-year terms for the House of Representatives, six-year terms for the Senate and four-year terms for the presidency. However, the elections for the United States Senate have always been staggered—a point that I regret the Government have not taken on board—so that each voter in every state has the opportunity to cast their verdict on the Senate no more than four years apart. That point seems to have passed by some of those on the Government Benches. Of course, there are reasons closer to home why we might wish to move to a fixed term of four years. I shall not repeat the points that were made earlier, but I should like to take the Scottish perspective for a moment. It is interesting that the Gould report—which the Deputy Prime Minister admitted on Third Reading of the Parliamentary Voting System and Constituencies Bill he had not actually read; he had read a report of the report—made it absolutely clear that having multiple elections on the same day would inevitably lead to confusion. The Electoral Commission has also raised that matter, and the electoral administration officers for Scotland are deeply concerned about their ability to deal not only with the referendum and the Scottish Parliament elections being held on the same day in 2011 but with the general election and the Scottish elections in 2015. There is also the important issue of the television debates. I should explain to those colleagues who have not had the pleasure of representing a constituency in Scotland, Wales or Northern Ireland that there is a real challenge involved. The main debates for the Westminster election in 2015 will be among the three party leaders, assuming that the Conservatives and the Liberal Democrats have not merged into a single party for electoral purposes. However, in the Scottish, Welsh and Northern Irish elections in that year, there will have to be TV debates within the nations and regions covering the leaders of the Social Democratic and Labour party, the Democratic Unionist party and so on in Northern Ireland, the Scottish National party, Labour, the Conservatives and the Liberals in Scotland, and similar arrangements in Wales. That will become incredibly complicated and could be open to serious legal challenge if we hold the two elections on the same day. The SNP or Plaid could argue that, if the leader of the Labour party gets double the exposure, Labour's vote could go up. I suspect, however, that such exposure for the Deputy Prime Minister would only drive down even further the Liberal Democrat share of the vote in Scotland and, probably, in Wales. There are also some serious logistical problems that need to be considered. My hon. Friend the Member for Edinburgh South (Ian Murray) stole my line about having different polling stations for the Scottish parliamentary election and the Westminster election. I am sure that that such a situation could also be true for Wales and Northern Ireland. There is actually a Member at the heart of the Government who does not agree with holding elections on the same day. I accept that his Bill on the decoupling of the local government and Scottish Parliament elections was introduced when he was a Member of the Scottish Parliament, but it might be helpful if I quote the junior Minister, the Under-Secretary of State for Scotland. I understand that he has attended the debate today. He was referring to the local government and Scottish Parliament elections, but the principles apply across the board. He said:"““I have always held the view that separate elections for local government and the Scottish Parliament would allow for real local accountability by increasing the focus on the real issues of local government which are currently overshadowed by the policies of the Scottish Parliament.””" There is no reason not to extend that logic to the Scottish Parliament and the Welsh Assembly. On page 7 of his consultation document, he went on to say:"““Supporters of combined elections argue that by keeping local government together with higher profile elections a higher turnout can be maintained. This is, however, only hiding the problem of a disengaged local electorate, not solving it. The real solution lies in local politicians that respond to local issues, delivering specific solutions to the specific problems in their community.””" I am sure that the Minister will absolutely agree with his colleague. I am conscious of the time, and of the fact that other Members wish to speak. I look forward to the Minister reflecting on the comments of the Under-Secretary of State for Scotland, and on the wisdom of our colonial cousins. I also look forward to him supporting our amendments.