Parliamentary Voting System and Constituencies Bill

Committee of the Whole House (HL) and Debate on bills on Monday, 20 December 2010, in the House of Lords.

Parliamentary Voting System and Constituencies Bill. Lords committee stage sixth day. Clause 8 : Commencement or repeal of amending provisions, agreed to. Clause 9: The alternative vote system: amendments, agreed to.

Type

Parliamentary proceeding

Reference

723 c826-51, 869-89, 918-86

Session

2010-12

Department

Deputy Prime Minister

Legislative stage

Committee stage

Chamber / Committee

House of Lords chamber

Parliamentary Voting System and Constituencies Bill. Brought from the Commons. Explanatory notes also published (HL Bill 26-EN).
Wednesday, 3 November 2010
Bills
House of Lords

Proceeding contributions

Lord Lamont of Lerwick | 723 c828 (Link to this contribution) What about the party that says that everyone should have 50 per cent of the vote and is now advocati...

Lord Strathclyde | 723 c847 (Link to this contribution) My Lords, it does. One vote would be enough under the terms of this legislation.

Show all contributions (341)

Lord Falconer of Thoroton | 723 c920-1 (Link to this contribution) That is inevitably the conclusion of the figures that I am talking about. If one goes back to what o...

Lord Wallace of Tankerness | 723 c930-1 (Link to this contribution) My Lords, I hope that there is no dispute between any parts of the House that it is important that w...

Lord Wallace of Tankerness | 723 c950 (Link to this contribution) In response to the amendment, the noble Lord, Lord Lipsey, has indicated that I might send him home ...

Lord Lipsey | 723 c945 (Link to this contribution) My Lords, this amendment is in my name and that of my noble friend Lady McDonagh, who is sorry that ...

Lord Wallace of Tankerness | 723 c952 (Link to this contribution) I am very doubtful about that last one but I could not possibly make a decision on it.

Lord Strathclyde | 723 c940-1 (Link to this contribution) My Lords, I am sure that some Conservatives oppose the Bill. Indeed, many oppose AV. But the noble L...

Lord Wallace of Tankerness | 723 c932 (Link to this contribution) According to the terms of the Bill, I think that the second boundary review will report on 1 October...

Baroness Harris of Richmond | 723 c970 (Link to this contribution) I must inform your Lordships that if the amendment is agreed, I cannot call manuscript Amendment 52A...

Lord King of Bridgwater | 723 c974 (Link to this contribution) Do I understand the noble and learned Lord to be actually suggesting that instead of this being made...

Lord Strathclyde | 723 c845 (Link to this contribution) We will have plenty of time to discuss the Localism Bill when it arrives here. It has yet even to be...

Lord Deben | 723 c876 (Link to this contribution) I do not believe that I get upset as easily as the noble Lord thinks. All that I believe is true is ...

Lord Wallace of Tankerness | 723 c885 (Link to this contribution) Yes, but as I indicated earlier, I do not think that that detracts from the fundamental principle be...

Lord Foulkes of Cumnock | 723 c885 (Link to this contribution) The point I was making was that the noble Lord said that he agreed with his noble friend Lord Deben ...

Lord McAvoy | 723 c926 (Link to this contribution) Does my noble friend agree with my findings, not on a scientific basis, that during and after the po...

Lord Falconer of Thoroton | 723 c949 (Link to this contribution) We have a lot of choices for the Government here in what they can do. The noble Lord, Lord Lipsey, r...

Lord Foulkes of Cumnock | 723 c972 (Link to this contribution) Can the Minister help me? I have had a quick look through the Bill and I cannot find any provision, ...

Lord Wallace of Tankerness | 723 c975-6 (Link to this contribution) My Lords, I can reassure the noble and learned Lord and the Committee that the breadth of the power ...

Lord Campbell-Savours | 723 c966 (Link to this contribution) Why should it be only the second preferences—those cast as the candidate at the bottom—that are the ...

Lord Wallace of Tankerness | 723 c977 (Link to this contribution) I hear what the noble and learned Lord says. As I have indicated, the measure would relate to conseq...

Lord Howarth of Newport | 723 c837 (Link to this contribution) My noble friend is absolutely right. This legislation is fraught with potential to divide and disint...

Baroness Liddell of Coatdyke | 723 c836-7 (Link to this contribution) My noble friend makes a serious and important point, but he, like me, will be aware that in the seco...

Lord Howarth of Newport | 723 c836 (Link to this contribution) I am worried precisely about that. That is why I set it up as an Aunt Sally, because it would be an ...

Baroness Hayter of Kentish Town | 723 c826 (Link to this contribution) 44: Clause 8, page 6, line 6, after ““““No”””” insert ““in England, Wales, Scotland and Northern Ire...

Lord Campbell-Savours | 723 c929 (Link to this contribution) When the Minister quotes such a figure as 91 per cent, does he mean that 91 per cent of the populati...

Lord Lipsey | 723 c925-6 (Link to this contribution) My Lords, what a good point my noble friend has just made; I am sure that we shall all take it into ...

Lord Touhig | 723 c926-7 (Link to this contribution) My Lords, I should like to share with noble Lords my own experience of the problems of electoral reg...

Lord Lipsey | 723 c926 (Link to this contribution) I entirely agree with my noble friend. Indeed it is not just the poll tax; there are a number of fac...

Baroness Hayter of Kentish Town | 723 c927 (Link to this contribution) Before my noble friend responds, will he consider what those young people, many of them probably stu...

Lord Rennard | 723 c927 (Link to this contribution) The noble Lord suggests that perhaps few people have taken advantage of the rolling register. Does h...

Lord Campbell-Savours | 723 c928 (Link to this contribution) My Lords, I will intervene only briefly because I do not want to get into this whole debate about in...

Lord Foulkes of Cumnock | 723 c929 (Link to this contribution) If the Electoral Commission can produce that figure of 91 per cent registered of those eligible to v...

Lord Foulkes of Cumnock | 723 c930 (Link to this contribution) In order to calculate that the figure is 91 per cent of the people of voting age, you must know how ...

Lord Lipsey | 723 c930 (Link to this contribution) My Lords, it is very helpful to have this information from the Minister, but the real point is that ...

Lord Wallace of Tankerness | 723 c930 (Link to this contribution) It follows on from what I have said that I have implicitly acknowledged that point, because clearly ...

Lord Lipsey | 723 c930 (Link to this contribution) The noble and learned Lord says that it is possible on the basis of knowing what groups are in which...

Lord Wallace of Tankerness | 723 c929 (Link to this contribution) As I understand it—if I am wrong I will certainly make the correction—it is not of the population be...

Lord Campbell-Savours | 723 c932 (Link to this contribution) When will the first boundary review take place based on individual registration statistics?

Lord Falconer of Thoroton | 723 c950-1 (Link to this contribution) I thought that the general agreement around the House was that if there is an X against only one nam...

Lord Rooker | 723 c949-50 (Link to this contribution) Look, I can guarantee that somewhere in the current election rules for first past the post, the inst...

Lord Falconer of Thoroton | 723 c950 (Link to this contribution) There now appears to be agreement that we all want an X against one name only to count as the first ...

Lord Foulkes of Cumnock | 723 c946-7 (Link to this contribution) I support my noble friend Lord Lipsey. The elegant speech by the noble Lord, Lord Hamilton, was a po...

Lord McAvoy | 723 c946 (Link to this contribution) Does my noble friend not realize that he has a problem with the language he is using? He spoke about...

Lord Hamilton of Epsom | 723 c946 (Link to this contribution) I hope that my noble friend the Leader of the House will find it possible to accept this amendment. ...

Lord Lipsey | 723 c945-6 (Link to this contribution) I enjoyed listening to the speech that the noble Lord, Lord Rooker, made under the guise of an inter...

Lord Campbell-Savours | 723 c946 (Link to this contribution) I have to say to my very good and noble friend Lord Lipsey that I am totally and unconditionally opp...

Lord Lipsey | 723 c944 (Link to this contribution) 51: Clause 9, page 6, line 30, at end insert— ““( ) Where a voter marks a ballot with a cross agains...

Lord Rooker | 723 c945 (Link to this contribution) I do not understand this. My noble friend is a supporter of AV. Those of us who have been in the oth...

Lord Wallace of Tankerness | 723 c944 (Link to this contribution) The supplementary vote, but tweaked. That does not commend itself to the Government, who have indica...

Lord Wallace of Tankerness | 723 c944 (Link to this contribution) Certainly not in order to achieve the objective that we as a Government wish. No doubt, however, it ...

Lord Wallace of Tankerness | 723 c943-4 (Link to this contribution) My Lords, I appreciate the fact that, in introducing the amendment, the noble Lord, Lord Campbell-Sa...

Lord Falconer of Thoroton | 723 c943 (Link to this contribution) Does the drafting work? Is it appropriate? Why is it not in there? These are the questions for the G...

Lord Campbell-Savours | 723 c943 (Link to this contribution) On the ballot paper, instead of putting two crosses, as you do under the London system at the moment...

Lord Falconer of Thoroton | 723 c943 (Link to this contribution) What the group does is bring into the Bill both the federal Australian system, which is that you hav...

Lord Campbell-Savours | 723 c943 (Link to this contribution) The Member for Christchurch, in the House of Commons, who was supported by Eleanor Laing, Greg Knigh...

Lord Campbell-Savours | 723 c942 (Link to this contribution) My Lords, I reassure noble Lords that it is not my intention to divide the House at this hour, but m...

Lord Campbell-Savours | 723 c942 (Link to this contribution) 49A: Clause 9, page 6, leave out line 28

Lord Foulkes of Cumnock | 723 c960-1 (Link to this contribution) One of the advantages of the Leader of the House effectively throwing the Companion to the Standing ...

Lord Campbell-Savours | 723 c960 (Link to this contribution) When my noble friend goes into the polling booth and casts his first preference for Labour and he mi...

Lord Hamilton of Epsom | 723 c958 (Link to this contribution) My Lords, I very rarely go to bed at night thinking about alternative voting systems, I must confess...

Lord Campbell-Savours | 723 c957-8 (Link to this contribution) My noble friend puts forward an interesting argument. This is an area on which I did some work in 19...

Lord Rooker | 723 c953-5 (Link to this contribution) My Lords, this is a fairly corrupt voting system. I am not going to go over the details of what we d...

Lord McAvoy | 723 c955-7 (Link to this contribution) My Lords, the past seven minutes have illustrated to me that people who are obsessed by systems real...

Lord Strathclyde | 723 c953 (Link to this contribution) My Lords, we seem to be getting on very well. Let us just finish the clause.

Lord Lipsey | 723 c952-3 (Link to this contribution) I think that the noble and learned Lord would do well to try to get something that nails this point ...

Lord Foulkes of Cumnock | 723 c952 (Link to this contribution) The noble and learned Lord mentions an X or a tick, but would even HMFC in a maroon heart be accepta...

Lord Wallace of Tankerness | 723 c951-2 (Link to this contribution) I do not think that anyone is advocating this—in fact, the opposite is true. We want to make sure th...

Lord Campbell-Savours | 723 c942 (Link to this contribution) The noble Lord says this is hypothetical. I have read out to the House a whole series of statistics ...

Lord Strathclyde | 723 c941 (Link to this contribution) We will have to agree to disagree on almost every single aspect of what the noble Lord, Lord Foulkes...

Lord Campbell-Savours | 723 c941 (Link to this contribution) Does the noble Lord really believe that 13 per cent of the vote can be described as the will of the ...

Lord Foulkes of Cumnock | 723 c941 (Link to this contribution) The Leader of the House says that he is not bulldozing this through, but he says that only in terms ...

Lord Strathclyde | 723 c941 (Link to this contribution) I am afraid that I lost a long time ago where this 13 per cent figure came from. It might have come ...

Lord Soley | 723 c940 (Link to this contribution) The noble Lord is labouring this for another reason. Does he bear in mind that his own Members in th...

Lord McAvoy | 723 c937 (Link to this contribution) My noble and learned friend complimented the noble Lord, Lord Taylor of Holbeach, on being open and ...

Lord Falconer of Thoroton | 723 c937-8 (Link to this contribution) I had not spotted that the figures did not include Scotland; we had the information for Wales. I pre...

Lord Campbell-Savours | 723 c938 (Link to this contribution) I am sorry to press my noble and learned friend. The relevance of the figures being for Labour seats...

Lord Falconer of Thoroton | 723 c938 (Link to this contribution) I do not know why the Government are behaving in this way. It does not matter to me whether they are...

Lord Foulkes of Cumnock | 723 c939-40 (Link to this contribution) My noble friend has had a lot more experience than I have. I accept his point in relation to drawing...

Lord Strathclyde | 723 c940 (Link to this contribution) My Lords, this Bill is a vision of simplicity and clarity. It provides for a referendum on a voting ...

Lord Falconer of Thoroton | 723 c937 (Link to this contribution) It had not occurred to me that they were Labour seats. I hope that the House will address these issu...

Lord Falconer of Thoroton | 723 c936-7 (Link to this contribution) My Lords, this clause is at the heart of Part 1. In my submission, there are two things that one nee...

Lord Campbell-Savours | 723 c937 (Link to this contribution) Is not the interesting factor governing the statistics introduced by my noble and learned friend tha...

Lord Lipsey | 723 c933 (Link to this contribution) Can the Minister tell me why subsection (4) is there?

Lord Lipsey | 723 c933 (Link to this contribution) 47: Clause 8, page 6, line 17, leave out subsection (4)

Lord Foulkes of Cumnock | 723 c984-6 (Link to this contribution) I am grateful to the Minister for his usual courtesy and for his careful and clear explanation. He m...

Lord Wallace of Tankerness | 723 c983 (Link to this contribution) The previous Labour Government did a wonderful job when they brought forward the proposals for the S...

Lord Falconer of Thoroton | 723 c971-2 (Link to this contribution) The amendment of my noble friend Lord Beecham basically says that, if a candidate gets 5 per cent or...

Lord Lipsey | 723 c970-1 (Link to this contribution) My Lords, I can understand the case that my noble friend Lord Beecham is making and it is seductive....

Lord Beecham | 723 c969 (Link to this contribution) 52A: Clause 9, page 7, line 6, at end insert— ““( ) Any reallocation of votes referred to in subsect...

Lord Falconer of Thoroton | 723 c972 (Link to this contribution) Where you take someone’s deposit away because they get less than 5 per cent, you are in effect ““pun...

Lord Wallace of Tankerness | 723 c972-3 (Link to this contribution) The noble and learned Lord virtually took the words out of my mouth. There is a difference in that, ...

Lord Falconer of Thoroton | 723 c967 (Link to this contribution) The noble and learned Lord is right that I do not support this amendment but he is completely wrong ...

Lord Wallace of Tankerness | 723 c966 (Link to this contribution) We could go into the merits of the first past the post system and there are a considerable number of...

Lord Rooker | 723 c967-8 (Link to this contribution) My Lords, I decided not to move two earlier amendments today. I wanted to concentrate on the main ca...

Lord Rooker | 723 c968-9 (Link to this contribution) It is inherently difficult when you are asking people to go into the polling station and make their ...

Lord Falconer of Thoroton | 723 c976-7 (Link to this contribution) I quite understand the noble and learned Lord’s position in relation to secondary legislation. Claus...

Lord Wallace of Tankerness | 723 c977 (Link to this contribution) As I indicated—perhaps I did not make it clear enough—we believe that the necessary primary legislat...

Lord Wallace of Tankerness | 723 c976 (Link to this contribution) I do not think that that would be an appropriate use of the power. It is important that when Parliam...

Lord Campbell-Savours | 723 c976 (Link to this contribution) If, by any chance, the Government were to decide before May that the system they have selected shoul...

Lord Falconer of Thoroton | 723 c973 (Link to this contribution) 53A: Clause 9, page 7, line 16, leave out ““publicly””

Lord Falconer of Thoroton | 723 c973-4 (Link to this contribution) My Lords, this takes us to a wholly new and equally riveting topic: namely, the process of making th...

Lord Falconer of Thoroton | 723 c974 (Link to this contribution) A lot of information is given to candidates and their representatives at the moment that is not leak...

Lord Wallace of Tankerness | 723 c974-5 (Link to this contribution) My Lords, as the noble and learned Lord has indicated, these amendments provide that if no candidate...

Lord Falconer of Thoroton | 723 c975 (Link to this contribution) Clause 9(4) reads: "““The Minister may by order make any amendments to primary or secondary legislat...

Lord Wallace of Tankerness | 723 c965-6 (Link to this contribution) Because of that second count, everyone, other than the person who came bottom the first time, still ...

Lord Campbell-Savours | 723 c963-4 (Link to this contribution) I think my noble and learned friend has missed one of the merits of the system. If the canvasser goe...

Lord Falconer of Thoroton | 723 c963 (Link to this contribution) I do not think that we needed the previous Government to tell us that. Nor do I think that all compu...

Lord Wallace of Tankerness | 723 c965 (Link to this contribution) It is the preferences of the votes allocated to those who are still in the count, as it were. If som...

Lord Falconer of Thoroton | 723 c963 (Link to this contribution) I do not think that the count would necessarily be complicated; it is the explanation of ““If you gi...

Lord Tebbit | 723 c837 (Link to this contribution) While the noble Lord is going through his catalogue of anomalies, I am sure that he will not have fo...

Lord Howarth of Newport | 723 c837 (Link to this contribution) I am a believer in the United Kingdom and I think that the noble Lord is also. I am sure that he wil...

Lord Rooker | 723 c840 (Link to this contribution) There is a snag there. One of the reasons why I did not move Amendment 43A is that there is a legal ...

Lord Grocott | 723 c840 (Link to this contribution) If my noble friend is right—and he has been right on far more things over the years than he has been...

Lord McAvoy | 723 c837-8 (Link to this contribution) I, too, am grateful to my noble friend Lady Hayter for moving the amendment, because it raises as a ...

Lord Grocott | 723 c838-40 (Link to this contribution) My Lords, I am not able to support my noble friend Lady Hayter’s amendment simply because my approac...

Lord Anderson of Swansea | 723 c841 (Link to this contribution) It was me.

Lord Foulkes of Cumnock | 723 c840-1 (Link to this contribution) My Lords, I struggled through the snow from Scotland on the encouragement —indeed, almost the insist...

Lord Grocott | 723 c840 (Link to this contribution) There are fruitful lines of discussion here for Report stage, and if they can lead to unanimity acro...

Lord Campbell-Savours | 723 c840 (Link to this contribution) Is not one advantage of the threshold to which my noble friend Lord Rooker refers the fact that you ...

Lord Foulkes of Cumnock | 723 c841 (Link to this contribution) Oh, it was my noble friend from Swansea who called it a Faustian pact. I do not know whether that is...

Lord St John of Fawsley | 723 c841 (Link to this contribution) My Lords, is the noble Lord aware that in the West Country the word ““bastard”” is a term of endearm...

Lord Foulkes of Cumnock | 723 c842 (Link to this contribution) In the West Country, that may be rightly so, but where I come from the term is not thought of in qui...

Lord Falconer of Thoroton | 723 c842 (Link to this contribution) My Lords, I welcome the noble Lords, Lord St John, Lord Tebbit and Lord Roberts to this debate, whic...

Lord Anderson of Swansea | 723 c842 (Link to this contribution) Does my noble friend also accept that no party wants AV? Given that the Conservative Party does not ...

Lord Falconer of Thoroton | 723 c843-4 (Link to this contribution) That appears to be the position. The proposal does not have the support of Parliament and, as my nob...

Lord Strathclyde | 723 c844 (Link to this contribution) My Lords, we have certainly had a longer debate than I had imagined when I first saw this amendment,...

Lord Howarth of Newport | 723 c845 (Link to this contribution) Since we debated thresholds last Wednesday, I have had the opportunity to read the Government’s Loca...

Lord Anderson of Swansea | 723 c845 (Link to this contribution) On consistency, I was one of those in the other place who voted for the Cunningham amendment in 1978...

Lord Grocott | 723 c830 (Link to this contribution) Just for statistical reference, my estimate is that 70 per cent of those on the Labour Benches are i...

Lord Campbell-Savours | 723 c830 (Link to this contribution) I would call that relatively divided. The point is that this is a totally artificial debate. It woul...

Lord Rooker | 723 c829 (Link to this contribution) Perhaps I may remind my noble friend that the then Government had the courage to hold a referendum o...

Lord Campbell-Savours | 723 c830 (Link to this contribution) Those were two very useful interventions and I agree with them both. The reality is that this is an ...

Lord Tebbit | 723 c832 (Link to this contribution) I do not rule that out entirely but most helpful and obvious probably would be to have a requirement...

Lord Campbell-Savours | 723 c831 (Link to this contribution) Would the noble Lord consider an approval threshold whereby a certain proportion of the registered n...

Lord Tebbit | 723 c831 (Link to this contribution) My Lords, first, I should express my gratitude to the noble Lord, Lord Campbell-Savours. I am quite ...

Lord Williamson of Horton | 723 c831 (Link to this contribution) My Lords, it was very late when we last discussed this matter in Committee and some people were wilt...

Lord Wills | 723 c830-1 (Link to this contribution) My Lords, I share the concerns that have been raised about the thresholds but with this amendment my...

Lord Campbell of Alloway | 723 c830 (Link to this contribution) My Lords, I was not intending to speak but, having listened to this debate, I want to say that this ...

Lord Tebbit | 723 c832 (Link to this contribution) I did not specify what the threshold should have been.

Lord Anderson of Swansea | 723 c832-3 (Link to this contribution) Touché. I can only respond by saying that most reasonable people, if they wish to have a threshold, ...

Lord Elystan-Morgan | 723 c833-4 (Link to this contribution) The point has been made that the amendment does not refer to any particular threshold, but Amendment...

Lord Lamont of Lerwick | 723 c834-5 (Link to this contribution) My Lords, I had not intended to speak on this because, as the noble Lord, Lord Williamson, said, it ...

Lord Anderson of Swansea | 723 c832 (Link to this contribution) My Lords, the noble Lord, Lord Tebbit, appeared to be savouring the thought, albeit a little after t...

Lord Wills | 723 c836 (Link to this contribution) I am very interested in the case that my noble friend is making, but is he not worried that his thir...

Lord Howarth of Newport | 723 c835-6 (Link to this contribution) My Lords, in tabling her amendment, my noble friend Lady Hayter has done two useful things. First, s...

Lord Lipsey | 723 c827 (Link to this contribution) My Lords, I rise briefly to speak to this amendment. I am particularly pleased to respond to my nobl...

Lord Roberts of Llandudno | 723 c828 (Link to this contribution) My Lords, I find it very strange that the party that seems to be supporting first past the post is t...

Baroness Hayter of Kentish Town | 723 c826-7 (Link to this contribution) My Lords, before I address Amendment 44, as the Leader of the House responded earlier in this Commit...

Lord Grocott | 723 c828 (Link to this contribution) My Lords, I greatly respect the noble Lord, Lord Roberts, on these subjects. He has been telling me ...

Lord Roberts of Llandudno | 723 c828 (Link to this contribution) That is not, of course, what we say. It is the argument of a coalition of dinosaurs who say that in ...

Lord Roberts of Llandudno | 723 c828-9 (Link to this contribution) My experience in Wales is that, as we have argued time after time, a referendum held on the day of l...

Lord Campbell-Savours | 723 c829 (Link to this contribution) My Lords, I see that a number of new Members are attending our debate today, and I draw attention in...

Lord Falconer of Thoroton | 723 c829 (Link to this contribution) Although my noble friend may not realise it, I was, in fact, a Labour Lord Chancellor, not a Conserv...

Lord Campbell-Savours | 723 c829 (Link to this contribution) My Lords, forgive me; I did not mean that. I meant two former Chancellors of the Exchequer and the n...

Lord Roberts of Llandudno | 723 c829 (Link to this contribution) The noble Lord speaks of massive constitutional changes. Was not the decision to remain in Europe a ...

Lord Campbell-Savours | 723 c829 (Link to this contribution) We provided a referendum on that and the public took a decision. What I am basically saying is that ...

Lord Foulkes of Cumnock | 723 c829 (Link to this contribution) Is it not ironic that we joined the European Union without a referendum, but that the referendum was...

Lord Strathclyde | 723 c848-9 (Link to this contribution) My Lords, that may well be an argument in a campaign either for or against AV. It is not an argument...

Lord Lipsey | 723 c848 (Link to this contribution) My Lords, I am not sure that the noble Lord has chosen the best possible example for his case. In Fr...

Lord Lipsey | 723 c869 (Link to this contribution) 45: Clause 8, page 6, line 7, leave out paragraph (b)

Lord Elystan-Morgan | 723 c869 (Link to this contribution) My Lords, I do not wish to move this amendment or Amendment 45A, but I reserve the right to raise th...

Lord Anderson of Swansea | 723 c871 (Link to this contribution) Is it not even worse, from the Liberal Democrat point of view, that they are clearly not very good n...

Lord Lipsey | 723 c869-71 (Link to this contribution) My Lords, I apologise for my eagerness to get on with the House’s consideration of the Bill. I know ...

Lord Strathclyde | 723 c849 (Link to this contribution) My Lords, I do not agree with that; this is a United Kingdom vote on an electoral system for the Uni...

Lord Wills | 723 c849 (Link to this contribution) The noble Lord is being very generous in giving way. However, does he not accept that whatever the v...

Lord Elystan-Morgan | 723 c869 (Link to this contribution) 44A: Clause 8, page 6, line 6, after ““““No””,”” insert— ““( ) more than 40% of those eligible to vo...

Baroness Hayter of Kentish Town | 723 c849-51 (Link to this contribution) My Lords, I thank noble Lords for all their interventions, which have given me an interesting histor...

Lord Strathclyde | 723 c848 (Link to this contribution) My Lords, I certainly agree with my noble friend that no impoliteness is intended in any shape or fo...

Lord Wills | 723 c847 (Link to this contribution) Before the noble Lord moves from my comments on this, I refer him to tomorrow’s Hansard so that he m...

Baroness Liddell of Coatdyke | 723 c847 (Link to this contribution) I am very grateful to the noble Lord for giving way. Does he not acknowledge, as the Deputy Prime Mi...

Lord Strathclyde | 723 c847 (Link to this contribution) The noble and learned Lord makes a good point, but the referendum that we are dealing with today is ...

Lord Falconer of Thoroton | 723 c847 (Link to this contribution) I think it is right that the only time there was a threshold was in the compulsory referendum in 197...

Lord Strathclyde | 723 c847 (Link to this contribution) I very much agree with what the noble Lord said about the union, and with other noble Lords from all...

Lord Lamont of Lerwick | 723 c848 (Link to this contribution) My noble friend has tried to merge the motives of people in voting for thresholds with the arguments...

Lord Strathclyde | 723 c848 (Link to this contribution) My Lords, I am glad that if the noble and learned Lord ever finds himself in government again he wil...

Lord Falconer of Thoroton | 723 c848 (Link to this contribution) The noble Lord is so right; and the consequence was that the House, unprecedentedly and contrary to ...

Lord Strathclyde | 723 c847-8 (Link to this contribution) I really do not agree. There has been much discussion on changing the electoral system for as long a...

Lord Mawhinney | 723 c846 (Link to this contribution) I am extremely grateful to my noble friend. He just said that we are talking today about a clean ref...

Lord Anderson of Swansea | 723 c846 (Link to this contribution) Essentially, the Minister is saying that it was no more than opportunistic. It was a matter of tacti...

Lord Strathclyde | 723 c845-6 (Link to this contribution) My Lords, as I hinted, I am at a disadvantage compared with many noble Lords because I was not in th...

Lord Beecham | 723 c846 (Link to this contribution) My Lords, is the position today not a mirror image of that? If the noble Lord is right, the position...

Lord Strathclyde | 723 c846 (Link to this contribution) I have no idea whether there was a great point of principle at stake in 1978. I am simply explaining...

Lord Touhig | 723 c846 (Link to this contribution) A moment ago the noble Lord talked of thresholds as being artificial barriers. What is AV if it is n...

Lord Strathclyde | 723 c846 (Link to this contribution) My Lords, if the noble Lord is saying that this is a matter of tactics by Labour Party Back-Benchers...

Lord Strathclyde | 723 c846 (Link to this contribution) My Lords, we are talking about a referendum on whether people wish to have AV. During the course of ...

Lord Wallace of Tankerness | 723 c880-1 (Link to this contribution) As my noble friend, Lord Strathclyde, said earlier, people have been talking about electoral reform ...

Lord Foulkes of Cumnock | 723 c880 (Link to this contribution) Will the noble and learned Lord confirm that, in relation to the referendum and the legislation esta...

Lord Wallace of Tankerness | 723 c881 (Link to this contribution) It was the late Lord Butler who said, and no doubt he was not the first, that politics is the art of...

Lord Campbell-Savours | 723 c881 (Link to this contribution) The noble and learned Lord must have been privy to some of these negotiations. Why was it in those n...

Lord Bach | 723 c879 (Link to this contribution) There was one occasion, probably in the two hours that the noble Lord was not here, when the noble L...

Lord Rooker | 723 c878-9 (Link to this contribution) I shall make a brief response to the noble Lord, Lord Deben. I was not intending to speak in this de...

Lord Wallace of Tankerness | 723 c880 (Link to this contribution) My Lords, following that welcome note from the unforgettable noble Lord, Lord Rooker—and I will be r...

Lord Rooker | 723 c879-80 (Link to this contribution) I stand corrected then. I apologise to the noble Lord, Lord McNally, for that. As I say, I was here ...

Lord Howarth of Newport | 723 c878 (Link to this contribution) I hope that my noble friend will not feel constrained in developing his points at whatever length he...

Lord McAvoy | 723 c878 (Link to this contribution) My noble friend is absolutely right. I am not going to repeat all the points that have been made but...

Lord McAvoy | 723 c878 (Link to this contribution) Surely not. That could not possibly be the case on the other side of the Chamber. I shall get to my ...

Lord Foulkes of Cumnock | 723 c878 (Link to this contribution) Perhaps I may inform my noble friend that, having heard the son of the noble Lord, Lord Deben, in th...

Lord McAvoy | 723 c877-8 (Link to this contribution) My Lords, I shall be even more brief than my noble friend who has just spoken. I shall not be bullie...

Lord Anderson of Swansea | 723 c877 (Link to this contribution) Indeed, if there were to be such a challenge, perhaps I may make the case on behalf of Ynys Môn, oth...

Lord Soley | 723 c876-7 (Link to this contribution) I do not want to follow the line pursued by the noble Lord, Lord Deben, because it sounds to me like...

Lord Howarth of Newport | 723 c876 (Link to this contribution) My Lords, I am very surprised that the noble Lord, Lord Deben, is suggesting that the debates so far...

Lord Bach | 723 c875 (Link to this contribution) The noble Lord must have been very upset in the mid-1980s, when he played a prominent role in the th...

Lord Deben | 723 c875 (Link to this contribution) Perhaps I may reply to that. The change to the sparsity rules, continued in the 1986 arrangements, w...

Lord Bach | 723 c875 (Link to this contribution) Perhaps the noble Lord can help me. It is really just information that I seek. He says that it was t...

Lord Wallace of Tankerness | 723 c884 (Link to this contribution) I think I also said in my response earlier that the length of any possible delay would depend upon w...

Lord Campbell-Savours | 723 c884 (Link to this contribution) The Minister said that the boundary commissions could be reviewed. Can I isolate within that Boundar...

Lord Wallace of Tankerness | 723 c884-5 (Link to this contribution) The noble Lord is right to identify the ones he has. The others were, I think, incorporated into an ...

Lord Alton of Liverpool | 723 c884 (Link to this contribution) Just before we leave the point about those special exemptions to which the noble Lord, Lord Soley, a...

Lord Wallace of Tankerness | 723 c885 (Link to this contribution) I think the noble Lord specifically said that it would be the constituency of my right honourable fr...

Lord Foulkes of Cumnock | 723 c885 (Link to this contribution) The Minister said that I am just plain wrong. Can he therefore explain the purpose of new paragraph ...

Lord Foulkes of Cumnock | 723 c883 (Link to this contribution) I would not want the Minister to mislead the House. It is not just two constituencies. The area prov...

Lord Wallace of Tankerness | 723 c883-4 (Link to this contribution) That is not correct. The relationship between the area provision and the constituency represented by...

Lord Campbell-Savours | 723 c884 (Link to this contribution) Can the Minister clarify something very simple for me? Perhaps I misunderstood. Is he saying that on...

Lord Wallace of Tankerness | 723 c884 (Link to this contribution) I shall repeat what I said. I said that the Boundary Commissions could be judicially reviewed. Of co...

Lord Soley | 723 c883 (Link to this contribution) I am very grateful for that answer. Can the Minister get the advice of the legal officers of the Gov...

Lord Wallace of Tankerness | 723 c882-3 (Link to this contribution) That is similar to the changes that occurred in Scotland after the noble Lord’s Government, which he...

Lord Anderson of Swansea | 723 c882 (Link to this contribution) Will the noble and learned Lord also address the question of indecent haste and the fact that there ...

Lord Wallace of Tankerness | 723 c882 (Link to this contribution) As I do not recognise the allegation that the noble Lord, Lord Howarth of Newport, has made, I am no...

Lord Wallace of Tankerness | 723 c883 (Link to this contribution) For good reasons, which the Bill addresses, there are exceptions. There are only two, and I do not w...

Lord Howarth of Newport | 723 c883 (Link to this contribution) I appreciate the Minister’s courtesy to me and to the House as a whole. He just said that he persona...

Lord Wallace of Tankerness | 723 c883 (Link to this contribution) I recall very clearly that when we discussed this in the debate on the Motion tabled by the noble an...

Lord Wallace of Tankerness | 723 c881 (Link to this contribution) I am interested that the noble Lord, Lord Campbell-Savours, seems to have greater insight into what ...

Lord Howarth of Newport | 723 c882 (Link to this contribution) This is the third time the noble and learned Lord has put forward the claim that the coalition exist...

Lord Campbell-Savours | 723 c881 (Link to this contribution) Does he not understand that the Conservative element in the coalition would not have backed down if ...

Lord Rooker | 723 c921 (Link to this contribution) In asking this question I may make myself look a right idiot, but thinking about what is happening, ...

Lord Rooker | 723 c921 (Link to this contribution) That means that there will be hundreds of thousands of census enumerators crawling around the countr...

Lord Falconer of Thoroton | 723 c918 (Link to this contribution) 45ZA: Clause 8, page 6, line 10, at end insert— ““( ) the Electoral Commission have certified that t...

Lord Lipsey | 723 c888-9 (Link to this contribution) My Lords, the Minister stood up to speak 25 minutes ago and he has been most courteous in his respon...

Lord Campbell-Savours | 723 c920 (Link to this contribution) Does this not all inevitably mean that there will be some inner-city constituencies with huge popula...

Lord Falconer of Thoroton | 723 c918-20 (Link to this contribution) My Lords, the amendment seeks to insert into Clause 8(1) a third condition before the Minister must ...

Lord Wallace of Tankerness | 723 c887 (Link to this contribution) Ninety-nine per cent of the people voting for AV, much as I would like to see that, is hypothetical....

Lord Bach | 723 c887 (Link to this contribution) If the constituency changes do not go ahead for any reason, AV cannot take place. However, if 99 per...

Lord Wallace of Tankerness | 723 c887 (Link to this contribution) I will not justify that particular point, but I will draw the noble Lord’s attention to the fact tha...

Lord Wallace of Tankerness | 723 c887 (Link to this contribution) My Lords, I hesitate to say because, although I am only seven or eight months into office, one of th...

Lord Bach | 723 c887 (Link to this contribution) On another subject, which I asked the noble Lord about in my contribution, does he agree that even i...

Lord Wallace of Tankerness | 723 c886 (Link to this contribution) I have indicated that the coalition programme for government makes a clear commitment to both issues...

Lord Soley | 723 c886-7 (Link to this contribution) The Minister has been quite helpful on some of these points. I agree that the Boundary Commission ca...

Lord Bach | 723 c886 (Link to this contribution) Why is there a linkage at all between these two sides if it is not part of a political deal?

Lord Wallace of Tankerness | 723 c886 (Link to this contribution) I am sure that they are very similar to the criteria which the previous Labour Government adopted wh...

Lord McFall of Alcluith | 723 c885 (Link to this contribution) The noble Lord said that there were good reasons for these exemptions. Given that the Bill says that...

Lord Wallace of Tankerness | 723 c928-9 (Link to this contribution) My Lords, in introducing his amendment the noble and learned Lord, Lord Falconer of Thoroton, correc...

Lord Touhig | 723 c927 (Link to this contribution) Somewhat disappointed. Taking up the point of the noble Lord, Lord Rennard, I am sure large numbers ...

Lord Foulkes of Cumnock | 723 c924-5 (Link to this contribution) Waldorf and Statler, my noble friend says. I should say that they are distinguished ex-Chancellors o...

Lord Foulkes of Cumnock | 723 c923-4 (Link to this contribution) My Lords, I support my noble and learned friend Lord Falconer on the basis that, if the boundaries a...

Lord McAvoy | 723 c924 (Link to this contribution) Waldorf and Statler.

Lord Falconer of Thoroton | 723 c922 (Link to this contribution) I appreciate that. My noble friend Lord Campbell-Savours has not said it, but he will be aware that ...

Lord Campbell-Savours | 723 c921-2 (Link to this contribution) When I talk to electoral registration officers, they are conscious of the fact that their budgets ar...

Lord Falconer of Thoroton | 723 c921 (Link to this contribution) I agree with my learned friend—sorry; my unlearned but profoundly friendly friend. Of course what I ...

Lord Falconer of Thoroton | 723 c923 (Link to this contribution) In Northern Ireland, there is a problem with individual registration. Eventually it should improve t...

Lord Beecham | 723 c922 (Link to this contribution) Will my noble and learned friend comment on the likely impact of individual registration, which is s...

Lord Falconer of Thoroton | 723 c922 (Link to this contribution) I agree with the noble Lord when he says that it is better than the previous five boundary reviews. ...

Lord Rennard | 723 c922 (Link to this contribution) Does the noble and learned Lord agree with me that all previous Boundary Commission reviews—I think ...

Lord Lipsey | 723 c872 (Link to this contribution) When we table amendments from this side of the House we do not consider their partisan impact; we me...

Lord Bach | 723 c872-3 (Link to this contribution) I will speak to both amendments. The first is in the name of my noble friend Lord Lipsey, who has mo...

Lord Lipsey | 723 c871 (Link to this contribution) My noble friend would say that, but I cannot possibly comment because I believe of course that AV wi...

Lord Campbell-Savours | 723 c871 (Link to this contribution) They would have something to say if the amendment that I tabled was accepted. I have tabled an amend...

Lord Foulkes of Cumnock | 723 c874 (Link to this contribution) Instincts. I thank my former boss—the former Secretary of State for Scotland—who always chooses the ...

Lord Howarth of Newport | 723 c874 (Link to this contribution) My noble friend has only just begun to touch on the scale of the changes that are impetuously and da...

Lord Foulkes of Cumnock | 723 c873-4 (Link to this contribution) My noble friends Lord Bach and Lord Lipsey have made me think about one slightly wider aspect that r...

Baroness Liddell of Coatdyke | 723 c874 (Link to this contribution) Instincts.

Lord Foulkes of Cumnock | 723 c874 (Link to this contribution) Reckless is the word for it. As my noble friend Lord Bach was talking, I was sitting here and consid...

Lord Deben | 723 c874-5 (Link to this contribution) My Lords, I wonder whether it is possible for us to imagine the state of mind of those on the other ...

Lord Wallace of Tankerness | 723 c930 (Link to this contribution) I understand that. If I am wrong, I will readily correct it. However, the point is, as I understand ...

Lord Wallace of Tankerness | 723 c930 (Link to this contribution) It is indicated that voting age may not always mean eligibility to vote, because there might be occa...

Lord McAvoy | 723 c950 (Link to this contribution) In the past, I have seen a cross on someone’s name, which has been interpreted as, ““We don’t want t...

Lord Wallace of Tankerness | 723 c950 (Link to this contribution) It is a matter for the returning officers to determine ultimately whether they believe an intention ...

Lord Wallace of Tankerness | 723 c951 (Link to this contribution) There may have been a misunderstanding. I wanted to make a particular point to the noble Lord, Lord ...

Lord Campbell-Savours | 723 c949 (Link to this contribution) Does my noble and learned friend not recognise that it completely undermines the intention behind th...

Lord Falconer of Thoroton | 723 c949 (Link to this contribution) With respect to the noble Lord, Lord Campbell-Savours—and I respect him greatly on this matter—he ov...

Lord Rooker | 723 c948 (Link to this contribution) No, because no words are allowed. That is part of the rules. A tick will do if it clearly indicates ...

Lord Foulkes of Cumnock | 723 c948 (Link to this contribution) My noble friend did not say that we want to use Xs, just that it might happen that way. My noble fri...

Lord Rooker | 723 c948 (Link to this contribution) I want to go home, to be honest. I did not realise how serious my noble friend was about his amendme...

Lord Norton of Louth | 723 c947-8 (Link to this contribution) My Lords, I rise briefly to support the amendment in the name of the noble Lord, Lord Lipsey, which ...

Lord Rooker | 723 c948 (Link to this contribution) Well, I do not agree with it.

Lord Lipsey | 723 c948 (Link to this contribution) If my noble friend wants to go home, he should not intervene in the debate. If he would care to read...

Lord McAvoy | 723 c947 (Link to this contribution) I rise briefly to support my noble friend’s amendment. X has been around for a long time—not just in...

Lord Campbell-Savours | 723 c946 (Link to this contribution) Behind my noble friend’s intervention is his support for my noble friend Lord Lipsey. That is what h...

Lord Campbell-Savours | 723 c944 (Link to this contribution) At this stage, on the basis of the response, I beg leave to withdraw the amendment. Amendment 49A w...

Lord Campbell-Savours | 723 c944 (Link to this contribution) The Minister did not deal with my central question and the reason why I moved the amendment. In term...

Lord Campbell-Savours | 723 c944 (Link to this contribution) Tweaked.

Lord Strathclyde | 723 c942 (Link to this contribution) My Lords, I really do not think so. All the evidence points to the fact that considerably more than ...

Lord Falconer of Thoroton | 723 c963 (Link to this contribution) The noble Lord, Lord Campbell-Savours, from a sedentary position, is contemplating whether there is ...

Lord Hamilton of Epsom | 723 c963 (Link to this contribution) One of the valuable lessons that we learnt from the previous Government was that new computer system...

Lord McAvoy | 723 c962 (Link to this contribution) I do not want to sound like an intellectual anorak, although I am probably not in any danger of that...

Lord Foulkes of Cumnock | 723 c961-2 (Link to this contribution) It will all become clear. McAvoy is now eliminated. His seven votes are distributed. Four go to Fal...

Lord McAvoy | 723 c961 (Link to this contribution) Does my noble friend realise that he is starting to give me a bigger headache than my noble friend L...

Lord Campbell-Savours | 723 c963 (Link to this contribution) There is one.

Lord Campbell-Savours | 723 c963 (Link to this contribution) My noble and learned friend says that the system is complicated. How would it be complicated with el...

Lord Falconer of Thoroton | 723 c962-3 (Link to this contribution) My Lords, one can only think that this is like Heathrow at the moment. First we are told by the Gove...

Lord Foulkes of Cumnock | 723 c962 (Link to this contribution) Absolutely. That is why I do not support this system. The reason I support the amendment is because ...

Lord Lipsey | 723 c959-60 (Link to this contribution) My Lords, this is by no means the first time that I have been not asleep at this hour due to the joy...

Lord Lipsey | 723 c960 (Link to this contribution) It depends on the circumstances in the particular constituency. In my own constituency of Brecon and...

Lord Hamilton of Epsom | 723 c959 (Link to this contribution) I accept that there will be great difficulty explaining to the country what the implications of the ...

Lord Campbell-Savours | 723 c958-9 (Link to this contribution) Does the noble Lord really believe—I am sure that he does not—that the country will even understand ...

Lord Lamont of Lerwick | 723 c957 (Link to this contribution) The noble Lord, Lord Rooker, has a powerful point, which I shall attempt to put into two sentences. ...

Lord Bassam of Brighton | 723 c953 (Link to this contribution) My Lords, before we come to consider my noble friend’s amendment, I ought to advise the House that i...

Lord Rooker | 723 c953 (Link to this contribution) 52: Clause 9, page 7, line 2, after ““reallocated”” insert ““by the proportion of its preference (th...

Lord Wallace of Tankerness | 723 c952 (Link to this contribution) The noble Lord is inviting the electoral registration officers to write to me and clearly, if they d...

Lord Lipsey | 723 c952 (Link to this contribution) The Minister is in such a jolly mood that I am reluctant in any way to spoil his anticipation of hog...

Lord Campbell-Savours | 723 c951 (Link to this contribution) On the question of undermining, has the noble and learned Lord, Lord Wallace of Tankerness, consulte...

Lord Strathclyde | 723 c942 (Link to this contribution) Are we not just building one hypothetical proposition onto another?

Lord Falconer of Thoroton | 723 c942 (Link to this contribution) Thresholds deal only with a situation where the vote is that low. If it is higher than that, you nev...

Lord Falconer of Thoroton | 723 c941 (Link to this contribution) It came from my noble friend Lady Hayter, who is sadly not in her place, who proposed a 25 per cent ...

Lord Campbell-Savours | 723 c940 (Link to this contribution) Does the noble Lord not recognise that Conservative Members of the other place are asking us to bloc...

Lord Foulkes of Cumnock | 723 c938-9 (Link to this contribution) I am deeply grateful to the Government Chief Whip for providing this extra time for us to debate Cla...

Lord Rooker | 723 c939 (Link to this contribution) Has my noble friend ever seen the preposterous way the Americans draw their boundaries?. We can lect...

Lord Lipsey | 723 c934 (Link to this contribution) The noble and learned Lord has sent this particular noble Lord home happy for Christmas. At last we ...

Lord Campbell-Savours | 723 c934-6 (Link to this contribution) I wish to speak to Clause 8 because I am worried that a certain portion of the House—essentially, th...

Lord Wallace of Tankerness | 723 c933-4 (Link to this contribution) The noble Lord, Lord Lipsey, asks a very reasonable question. My understanding is that it is a commo...

Lord Falconer of Thoroton | 723 c932-3 (Link to this contribution) I express my gratitude to the noble and learned Lord, Lord Wallace of Tankerness, for his response t...

Lord Campbell-Savours | 723 c981-2 (Link to this contribution) I shall very briefly intervene and just make a comment before this debate closes this morning. This ...

Lord Falconer of Thoroton | 723 c982 (Link to this contribution) My Lords, the effect of the amendment is that before making an order under Clause 9(4), which allows...

Lord McAvoy | 723 c980-1 (Link to this contribution) I thank the noble Lord for that. I am trying to explain the context of why we have reached here and ...

Lord Wallace of Tankerness | 723 c984 (Link to this contribution) I was just going on to say that I accept that when the United Kingdom Government develop proposals i...

Lord Campbell-Savours | 723 c983 (Link to this contribution) Would they be consulted?

Lord McAvoy | 723 c983 (Link to this contribution) Yes, of course it was agreed at the time, and there were many pressures for it, not least the induce...

Lord Wallace of Tankerness | 723 c982-3 (Link to this contribution) My Lords, the noble Lord, Lord Foulkes, has invited me to give a description of the working of the S...

Lord Wallace of Tankerness | 723 c972 (Link to this contribution) My Lords, I agree with much of the analysis of the noble and learned Lord, Lord Falconer. Just becau...

Lord McAvoy | 723 c971 (Link to this contribution) My Lords, I support the amendment of my noble friend Lord Beecham but only in the context of where w...

Lord Beecham | 723 c969-70 (Link to this contribution) My Lords, like most of your Lordships I do not go to bed dreaming of the alternative vote. In fact, ...

Lord Wallace of Tankerness | 723 c967 (Link to this contribution) To suggest that the election of a leader of a party is not political—I understand that it is not par...

Lord Foulkes of Cumnock | 723 c967 (Link to this contribution) They are also eccentric and aberrant in some ways because, if you take a four-seat ward, as we have ...

Lord Wallace of Tankerness | 723 c967 (Link to this contribution) My Lords, the noble Lord, Lord Foulkes, is again rehearsing the kind of arguments that we will no do...

Lord Falconer of Thoroton | 723 c966 (Link to this contribution) What if you have wasted a vote and vote for a candidate who does not succeed?

Lord Foulkes of Cumnock | 723 c966-7 (Link to this contribution) Some Members opposite seem to adjust the rules of the House as we go along. Up till now, when someon...

Lord Deben | 723 c968 (Link to this contribution) Does the noble Lord agree, therefore, that there is an advantage in being a Monster Raving Loony Par...

Lord Falconer of Thoroton | 723 c977 (Link to this contribution) That is an interesting answer. Does the noble and learned Lord think it would be sensible not to inc...

Lord Falconer of Thoroton | 723 c977 (Link to this contribution) My Lords, on the basis of the generous assurance given by the noble and learned Lord, Lord Wallace o...

Lord McAvoy | 723 c979-80 (Link to this contribution) My Lords, it gives me great pleasure to speak in support of my noble friend’s amendment. To one such...

Lord Rennard | 723 c980 (Link to this contribution) I thank the noble Lord for giving way, but after listening to him for the last five minutes or so, c...

Lord Foulkes of Cumnock | 723 c977 (Link to this contribution) 54: Clause 9, page 7, line 42, at end insert ““, Scottish Parliament, National Assembly of Wales and...

Lord Foulkes of Cumnock | 723 c977-9 (Link to this contribution) My Lords, I am pleased that we have managed to get to Amendment 54. I see that the noble Lord, Lord ...

Lord Falconer of Thoroton | 723 c975 (Link to this contribution) I found that a helpful and clear description which, from the sound of it, is a sensible way of doing...

Lord Falconer of Thoroton | 723 c975 (Link to this contribution) 53D: Clause 9, page 7, leave out lines 33 to 42

Lord Beecham | 723 c973 (Link to this contribution) In the circumstances I beg leave to withdraw the amendment. Amendment 52A withdrawn. Amendment 52A...

Lord Wallace of Tankerness | 723 c966 (Link to this contribution) That is the way that particular system works. It is the system we have used in this House for electi...

Lord Campbell-Savours | 723 c965 (Link to this contribution) I think that the noble and learned Lord has missed the point of the noble Lord, Lord Lamont, which i...

Lord Lamont of Lerwick | 723 c965 (Link to this contribution) How can the Minister describe the situation where, let us say, the BNP voters’ second preferences ju...

Lord Wallace of Tankerness | 723 c964-5 (Link to this contribution) I am not quite sure how to take that. I start by reassuring the House that although I have an intere...

Lord Falconer of Thoroton | 723 c964 (Link to this contribution) It is a matter of saying, ““How much do you like me?”” and being told, ““Not enough to give you the ...

Subjects

Constituency size

Alternative vote

Australia

Cornwall

Distribution of seats

Electoral register

Exemptions

General elections

Isle of Wight

Northern Ireland

Northern Ireland Assembly

Members

National Assembly for Wales

Referendums

Scotland

Voting methods

Wales

Scottish Parliament

Ballot papers

Ynys Môn

Na h-Eileanan an Iar

Orkney and Shetland

Legislation

Parliamentary Voting System and Constituencies Bill 2010-12

Link

View this Parliamentary proceeding on www.publications.parliament.uk