Parliamentary Voting System and Constituencies Bill

My Lords, I would like to give some practical examples of what my noble friends have been describing here. I know that some folk do not like practical examples, but this is what this House is for; to listen to each other and to learn from each other. I am still on a learning process. The point about wards being the building blocks is illustrated in the former constituency I represented. It illustrates the folly of tinkering with political systems because a party is part of a coalition. That is what happened to the Labour Party in 2004 in Scotland and the Scottish Parliament elections where the Liberals put as a price for joining a coalition the introduction of proportional representation to local government. I can advise any coalition party involved with the Liberals that in the long run they will tinker and tamper with PR to your detriment and downfall. What happened at the local elections was a disaster, but we have already discussed that and I do not want to be accused of or be guilty of repetition. A multi-member ward system was introduced. Two wards in my former constituency, Earnoch and Burnbank, are each represented by three members. I am not making a political point, because three members in one ward are all Labour, and in the other at least two are Labour. Part of those two wards is in Rutherglen and Hamilton West, and the other part is in Lanark and Hamilton East. They are divided by Woodhead Road. One side of the street is in one constituency the other side is in the other. I can see that applying to constituencies, but it is not right for wards to be divided in that manner. These wards are split between two constituencies. I know that this will sound like special pleading, and folk will say that it does not matter because the public come first. The public come first surely by allowing political parties to organise in an efficient and representative manner. No one should dismiss the difficulties facing party organisations in trying to get their policies across to the public and being elected as representatives. Party organisation cannot be dismissed as irrelevant or unimportant, as compared to the public interest, because I would maintain that the public interest is served by efficient political structures, which will ultimately be better for the public. We have these areas in which there are two constituencies. While my relations with my colleague, neighbour and friend Jimmy Hood, the MP for Lanark and Hamilton, were okay, the situation was nevertheless disjointed. I do not want to spend too much time on that, because I have dealt with the issue of what happened when constituency boundaries were split, and the town of Hamilton was split on a purely numerical basis. The community of Hamilton has been badly damaged because it is not one cohesive unit. I have complained long and hard, and will continue to complain, about the effect of that on Rutherglen, but after watching what happened to Hamilton, the natural result has been that the community does not feel that it is properly represented by one cohesive voice in Parliament. Boundaries count. In the memorable phrase of the noble Lord, Lord Forsyth of Drumlean, if this goes ahead without any alteration, we will have ““blocks on a map””. I intend to deal with one particular block on a map in a later amendment in my name. I will take head-on this argument that constituencies are just blocks on a map. I know that former MPs are not very popular in your Lordships’ House at the moment. We seem to be a hunted species; but there we are. We will do our best to bear up and learn our trade in here. However, I am determined to try to make a difference and ensure as best I can that Rutherglen will not become part of a block on a map.