Scotland Bill

I wish that I had been sharp enough to have worked that out in response to the noble Lord, Lord Empey. All parties look at this issue from the point of view of party advantage. If you are going to set up a commission to look at this, it has to be clear of the political parties but, ultimately, it has to be agreed among the political parties. One of the most remarkable things that I have seen in politics was the Labour Party in control of the Scottish Parliament introducing the single transferable vote for local government. It destroyed the Labour Party’s hegemony in Scotland. It was an act of supreme self-sacrifice, which was clearly thought through in the interests of wider democracy—I am sorry but my tongue was stuck to my cheek. We have ended up with four systems, as the noble Lord said. I defy most candidates of all parties, if they knock on a door and ask, ““Could you explain to me each of the electoral systems and how they work?””, to get an answer that has any degree of confidence or accuracy. The whole thing has become ridiculously overcomplicated. The point about constituency boundaries goes to the heart of this idea of representation. The noble Lord, Lord Steel, says that we have lost all that. No, we have not. It is true that the reform of the House of Commons and the parliamentary constituencies Bill took not enough account of this very important reason. But it strikes me that we have 129 Members of the Scottish Parliament, which seems somewhat excessive. Looking at the numbers it would be possible to bring more logic, more coherence and more relevance to the people of Scotland. Moreover, if one is going to look at the electoral system, one ought also to look at the size of the Parliament and its relationship to Westminster and other bodies. This is an excellent amendment which I do not suppose the noble Lord will press to a vote but I hope that, in responding, my noble and learned friend will consider how this can be dealt with, because there is no doubt that it is damaging to have all these systems operating in Scotland in a way that is not in the interests of the important relationship between elected representatives and their constituents.