Parliamentary Voting System and Constituencies Bill

My Lords, I thank the noble Lord, Lord Foulkes of Cumnock, for the way that he moved his amendment. In fact, if he had stopped after about a minute he would have made some very compelling points because he said it was elegant and clear, and his amendment was. We then had a debate for nearly an hour and a half and we lost a lot of that initial clarity. He was my MP. He never bothered to canvass me, perhaps because he realised that I did not have a vote. If he and I, perhaps joined by the noble Lord, Lord Browne of Ladyton, were to walk down Loudoun Street in Mauchline and perhaps slip into Poosie Nansie’s—three lairds together—those who were there would be extremely suspicious and they would smell a rat if they thought that we were all on the same side, although of course we are on many things. We have had a series of amendments. I totally accept what the noble Lord, Lord Rooker, said about degrouping his amendments—that is within the rules. He may find that my answers are not dramatically different but we shall come to his amendments in due course. I want to reply to this debate by making the case for 5 May, rather than picking everybody else off. I will explain why we have chosen that date and think it is the most appropriate date, and why it will maximise the turnout and engage the people of Britain. It makes sense to hold the referendum on the same day as other polls. I was momentarily confused by the argument of the noble Lord, Lord Bach, about London not voting, compared to other parts of the country. I do not know whether he thought that was a good thing or a bad thing. The fact is that next 5 May around 84 per cent of the UK electorate will already have a reason to go to the polls. That is a substantial number of people who are already heading to the polling booths; why not ask them a relatively simple question? That was the point made by my noble friend Lord Rennard. This is designed to maximise the turnout. We had a debate earlier about maximising turnout. Those noble Lords who were in favour of that are now against 5 May. Ensuring that a separate visit to the polling booth does not have to be made at another date is more convenient for voters and will save money. We believe it will save not £15 million but of the order of £30 million across all polls. Contrary to what some might say, I do not at all believe that combining polls in this way will be confusing to voters. Indeed, we need to be careful not to underestimate the voting public.