Parliamentary Voting System and Constituencies Bill

Committee of the Whole House (HL) and Debate on bills on Monday, 10 January 2011, in the House of Lords.

Parliamentary Voting System and Constituencies Bill. Lords committee stage (seventh day). New clause considered and withdrawn. Clause 10 amendment considered and withdrawn.

Type

Parliamentary proceeding

Reference

723 c1174-229, c1253-84

Session

2010-12

Legislative stage

Committee stage

Procedure

New clauses

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 Campbell-Savours | 723 c1283 (Link to this contribution) Following what my noble friend said, why can there not be a random selection, a pilot project, to ch...

Lord Snape | 723 c1189 (Link to this contribution) There are no great differences between them, as my noble friend says. However, to be honest, I would...

Show all contributions (193)

Lord Wills | 723 c1182 (Link to this contribution) My noble friend has made an important point about the importance of considering population. But does...

Lord Falconer of Thoroton | 723 c1253-5 (Link to this contribution) My Lords, Amendment 54A stands in my name and in the names of my noble friends Lord Bach and Lady Th...

Lord Boateng | 723 c1211-2 (Link to this contribution) I am grateful to my noble friend for reflecting on that. Many Members on all sides of the Committee,...

Lord Martin of Springburn | 723 c1268 (Link to this contribution) The noble Lord was the chairman of the Parliamentary Labour Party. He would never have allowed any M...

Lord Martin of Springburn | 723 c1181 (Link to this contribution) The noble Lord makes a valid point about people who are not on the electoral roll. I think of my pre...

Lord Tyler | 723 c1200 (Link to this contribution) My Lords—

Lord Wills | 723 c1212 (Link to this contribution) I have great respect for, and pay tribute to, the noble Lord’s very distinguished history as a const...

Lord Falconer of Thoroton | 723 c1215-7 (Link to this contribution) My Lords, this is a very important amendment and is the inevitable consequence of doing what the con...

Lord Wallace of Tankerness | 723 c1283 (Link to this contribution) The first point is, as I have indicated, a matter for the Electoral Commission. At least two noble L...

Lord Falconer of Thoroton | 723 c1283-4 (Link to this contribution) I am grateful for the trouble that the noble and learned Lord, Lord Wallace of Tankerness, has taken...

Lord Soley | 723 c1266 (Link to this contribution) I will give way. I want to hear a clear indication that that did not happen, because I have been tol...

Viscount Eccles | 723 c1266 (Link to this contribution) I have received no such instruction. I would not expect to receive one, and if I did I would pay no ...

Lord Soley | 723 c1266 (Link to this contribution) I am very encouraged by that. I have to say, though, that I would rather hear it from the Front Benc...

Lord Phillips of Sudbury | 723 c1266 (Link to this contribution) My Lords—

Lord Phillips of Sudbury | 723 c1266 (Link to this contribution) The noble Lord threw down the gauntlet and someone has to pick it up. Exactly as my noble friend has...

Lord Soley | 723 c1266 (Link to this contribution) I will give way in a moment, if I can take one intervention at a time. I know, as does everyone who ...

Lord Campbell-Savours | 723 c1267 (Link to this contribution) They are refusing.

Lord Soley | 723 c1267 (Link to this contribution) I am delighted to hear that. I am sure that Members did not receive e-mails or letters of that type....

Lord Soley | 723 c1267 (Link to this contribution) All I know is what I have been told. I respect people’s privacy, and I respect individuals who say t...

Lord Soley | 723 c1267 (Link to this contribution) With respect, I am sure that the noble and learned Lord is one of those Members to whom no one would...

Lord Phillips of Sudbury | 723 c1267 (Link to this contribution) I am grateful to the noble Lord for giving way. I cannot resist it when he is casting these aspersio...

Lord Mackay of Clashfern | 723 c1267 (Link to this contribution) My Lords, I am surprised to hear these suggestions. I have been here for some little time now and, n...

Lord Soley | 723 c1268 (Link to this contribution) My noble friend still thinks that he is in his previous role. If he was in that role here, he would ...

Lord Martin of Springburn | 723 c1268 (Link to this contribution) Compared to the noble Lord, I am still an apprentice in the procedures of this House, but should we ...

Lord Soley | 723 c1267-8 (Link to this contribution) I most certainly can. What is more, I can go a bit further. At our meetings to discuss how to handle...

Lord Soley | 723 c1268 (Link to this contribution) I am not sure that I wholly agree with that. I certainly would not encourage people to speak, but le...

Lord McAvoy | 723 c1275-7 (Link to this contribution) My Lords, bearing in mind the late time of the evening, I will also try to be relatively brief. Firs...

Lord Campbell-Savours | 723 c1275 (Link to this contribution) That is precisely the point. The amendment says that, "““all reasonable steps to ensure””," must be...

Lord Wallace of Tankerness | 723 c1278 (Link to this contribution) My Lords, I thank the noble and learned Lord, Lord Falconer of Thoroton, for this amendment, which h...

Baroness Liddell of Coatdyke | 723 c1277-8 (Link to this contribution) My Lords, I promise the noble and learned Lord, Lord Wallace of Tankerness, that I will genuinely be...

Lord Wallace of Tankerness | 723 c1278-9 (Link to this contribution) I think that I have made it clear that I have not asked any of my colleagues not to speak. I am not ...

Lord Soley | 723 c1278 (Link to this contribution) I want it to be clear that no one on the government payroll has asked Members not to speak because o...

Lord Wallace of Tankerness | 723 c1279-80 (Link to this contribution) I am not making any presumption about the date it will start because it would depend on Royal Assent...

Lord Falconer of Thoroton | 723 c1279 (Link to this contribution) I wish to intervene very briefly on the quotations used by the noble and learned Lord from the secre...

Lord Campbell-Savours | 723 c1280 (Link to this contribution) Does the Minister really think that it is fair to draw boundaries in the inner cities on the basis o...

Lord Wallace of Tankerness | 723 c1280-1 (Link to this contribution) I am only indicating that it could be a circumstance in which the Electoral Commission may take that...

Lord Maxton | 723 c1282 (Link to this contribution) I am delighted to hear the noble and learned Lord say that, because we have to use all the public da...

Lord Wallace of Tankerness | 723 c1281-2 (Link to this contribution) I am saying that I do not believe that it is an either/or. The noble Lord, Lord McAvoy, mentioned th...

Lord Howarth of Newport | 723 c1281 (Link to this contribution) Is the Minister saying that he is happy for the legislation to proceed on the basis of the present c...

Lord Wallace of Tankerness | 723 c1281 (Link to this contribution) I am rather disappointed because I have tried my best to listen to what noble Lords have said, and I...

Baroness McDonagh | 723 c1282 (Link to this contribution) My point is that the figure that the noble and learned Lord is using of 96 per cent validation that ...

Lord Wallace of Tankerness | 723 c1282 (Link to this contribution) I hesitate because I am not entirely sure that I fully understand what the noble Baroness is asking ...

Baroness McDonagh | 723 c1282 (Link to this contribution) I thank the Minister for his comments. I certainly appreciate some of the things that he is looking ...

Lord Wallace of Tankerness | 723 c1282 (Link to this contribution) I hesitate because I do not want to say anything definite if there are data protection problems, but...

Lord Howarth of Newport | 723 c1281 (Link to this contribution) Is the noble and learned Lord saying that this reforming Government are really satisfied that the pr...

Lord Wallace of Tankerness | 723 c1283 (Link to this contribution) There are two points there. The first is that the figure that we have been using of 96 per cent come...

Lord Howarth of Newport | 723 c1270-1 (Link to this contribution) I certainly share the noble Lord’s hope that that will indeed be the case, and it is important that ...

Lord Martin of Springburn | 723 c1270 (Link to this contribution) Given the size of local authorities, it is not a question of having more electoral officers but of h...

Lord Foulkes of Cumnock | 723 c1271 (Link to this contribution) That is exactly what my Amendment 89C proposes. The easiest solution would be for the three wise men...

Lord Lipsey | 723 c1271 (Link to this contribution) The nearest that any noble Lord comes to being economical with the truth is when they stand up and s...

Lord Howarth of Newport | 723 c1268-70 (Link to this contribution) My Lords, ““more haste, less speed”” is a maxim that every Lib Dem Minister in the coalition—and, pe...

Lord Lipsey | 723 c1271 (Link to this contribution) The noble Lord has led me to be even briefer, because I was about to refer to his Amendment 89C and ...

Lord Tyler | 723 c1271-2 (Link to this contribution) I am grateful to the noble Lord for giving way. Will he accept, even if some of his colleagues would...

Lord Lipsey | 723 c1272 (Link to this contribution) I am proposing to tackle it in the very same way as I hope he is proposing to tackle it—by voting ye...

Lord Campbell-Savours | 723 c1273 (Link to this contribution) It may well be achievable but on the basis of a deficient register. That is at the core of our compl...

Lord Phillips of Sudbury | 723 c1272 (Link to this contribution) I hesitate to interrupt, but the quotation was from a report not of the Boundary Commission but of o...

Lord Campbell-Savours | 723 c1272 (Link to this contribution) The noble Lord, Lord Phillips of Sudbury, has just quoted from a Boundary Commission document, which...

Lord Phillips of Sudbury | 723 c1272 (Link to this contribution) I agree with the noble Lord, Lord Foulkes.

Lord Foulkes of Cumnock | 723 c1272 (Link to this contribution) First, I welcome greatly the fact that someone on the other side is actually participating properly ...

Lord Phillips of Sudbury | 723 c1272 (Link to this contribution) I know that it is a shock to see somebody rise from this side but perhaps I, too, may make a specula...

Lord Tyler | 723 c1275 (Link to this contribution) If the situation is as dire as the noble Lord suggests in a minority but nevertheless presumably in ...

Lord Soley | 723 c1273 (Link to this contribution) The figures that my noble friend gives are very important. I will look at them and draw them to the ...

Lord Campbell-Savours | 723 c1273-4 (Link to this contribution) Perhaps I may tell my noble friend exactly what the figures relate to. The percentages were calculat...

Baroness McDonagh | 723 c1191 (Link to this contribution) That is quite a different argument. I am saying that I do not know whether it is better for a Member...

Lord Campbell-Savours | 723 c1191 (Link to this contribution) On that point, I put it to the noble Baroness that she is making the argument for proportional repre...

Baroness McDonagh | 723 c1190-1 (Link to this contribution) In supporting the amendment, I will make two brief points on subsection (2)(b) of the proposed new c...

Lord Clinton-Davis | 723 c1190 (Link to this contribution) What I find extraordinary about this debate on the topic raised by my noble friend is the question o...

Baroness McDonagh | 723 c1189 (Link to this contribution) With regard to the newspaper article by the noble Lord, Lord Baker, does my noble friend agree with ...

Lord Snape | 723 c1189-90 (Link to this contribution) I will do my—no doubt inadequate—best to do so. There are, of course, seats in England—we are not ta...

Lord Snape | 723 c1189 (Link to this contribution) That has put me in my place.

Lord Foulkes of Cumnock | 723 c1189 (Link to this contribution) We must not continue with that misunderstanding and misapprehension. For many years I represented 80...

Baroness Liddell of Coatdyke | 723 c1195-6 (Link to this contribution) I am very grateful to my noble friend. Since he has given up the chairmanship of Hearts Football Clu...

Lord Foulkes of Cumnock | 723 c1195 (Link to this contribution) On that point, I advise Members of the House to listen very carefully to what my noble friend is say...

Lord Howarth of Newport | 723 c1196-9 (Link to this contribution) My Lords, this legislation has been constructed in haste and is being pushed through Parliament in h...

Lord Desai | 723 c1191-2 (Link to this contribution) My Lords, I want to make a point not about individual constituencies, because I have never been in a...

Lord Clinton-Davis | 723 c1192 (Link to this contribution) Is it not extraordinary that not one word has been heard today from the coalition Benches on this vi...

Lord Elystan-Morgan | 723 c1192 (Link to this contribution) My Lords, I make no apology for speaking briefly from these Benches. I do not believe that it is pro...

Baroness Liddell of Coatdyke | 723 c1193-4 (Link to this contribution) I am delighted to follow the noble Lord, Lord Elystan-Morgan, as he made a powerful speech from a po...

Lord Elystan-Morgan | 723 c1193 (Link to this contribution) I am tempted to comment but, mustering all the neutrality that I can command as a Cross-Bencher, it ...

Baroness Liddell of Coatdyke | 723 c1195 (Link to this contribution) I am very grateful to my noble friend for that interesting piece of information. This is a subject t...

Lord Wills | 723 c1194 (Link to this contribution) I, too, am perplexed by how the figure was arrived at. My noble friend may wish to know that I made ...

Lord Campbell-Savours | 723 c1180-1 (Link to this contribution) I thought that I was taking an intervention. I hope that the noble Lord will forgive me. The Governm...

Lord Lipsey | 723 c1180 (Link to this contribution) I am sorry. I thought that the noble Lord had resumed his seat.

Lord Campbell-Savours | 723 c1180 (Link to this contribution) My Lords—

Lord Lipsey | 723 c1180 (Link to this contribution) My Lords, with this clause, we reach Part 2, which is a more technical part of the Bill—

Lord Campbell-Savours | 723 c1179-80 (Link to this contribution) My Lords, I had not planned to speak this early, but I may as well intervene to support my noble fri...

Lord Wills | 723 c1178-9 (Link to this contribution) I am very grateful to my noble friend. As he said, the previous Government—I was the Minister respon...

Lord Campbell-Savours | 723 c1178 (Link to this contribution) I am sorry. Perhaps my noble friend would set out what work was carried out. It would help us, in mo...

Lord Snape | 723 c1187-9 (Link to this contribution) My Lords, I follow my noble friend Lord Grocott’s earlier remarks about the debates that we have had...

Lord Campbell-Savours | 723 c1182 (Link to this contribution) I could not agree more with my noble friend. If we are going to have a five-year Parliament, why can...

Lord Grocott | 723 c1185-7 (Link to this contribution) My Lords, I am slightly hesitant in rising to speak to the amendment because I had hoped that we mig...

Lord Beecham | 723 c1182-5 (Link to this contribution) My Lords, I, too, endorse the amendment moved by my noble friend Lord Wills and follow some lines of...

Lord Knight of Weymouth | 723 c1181-2 (Link to this contribution) Has my noble friend seen the Electoral Commission’s excellent report published in March this year en...

Lord Campbell-Savours | 723 c1182 (Link to this contribution) I have not read that report although it is on my reading list. There are a number of reports I have ...

Lord Campbell-Savours | 723 c1181 (Link to this contribution) That intervention by my noble friend is extremely significant. That matter has not been taken into a...

Lord Wills | 723 c1174-5 (Link to this contribution) 54ZA: Before Clause 10, insert the following new Clause— ““Committee of Inquiry on Parliamentary con...

Lord Wills | 723 c1175 (Link to this contribution) My Lords—

Lord Strathclyde | 723 c1175 (Link to this contribution) My Lords, perhaps noble Lords would leave as quietly and as quickly as possible, so that we can all ...

Lord Wills | 723 c1175-6 (Link to this contribution) I am very grateful to the noble Lord for his courtesy. Rather curiously for this House, I support t...

Lord Foulkes of Cumnock | 723 c1176 (Link to this contribution) Would my noble friend not accept that the United States has a federal system so that every state has...

Lord Wills | 723 c1176-7 (Link to this contribution) Of course I accept that. I was about to make very similar points in my remarks. What my noble friend...

Lord Campbell-Savours | 723 c1177 (Link to this contribution) This matter has taxed many of us over a long period. I understand that when my noble friend was the ...

Lord Campbell-Savours | 723 c1258 (Link to this contribution) I wonder whether my noble and learned friend will press the noble Lord, Lord Tyler, on something he ...

Lord Falconer of Thoroton | 723 c1258 (Link to this contribution) I certainly agree that we should not put any obstacles in their way, but I would go further perhaps ...

Lord Desai | 723 c1257-8 (Link to this contribution) Does my noble and learned friend agree that, contrary to what the noble Lord, Lord Phillips, has sai...

Lord Falconer of Thoroton | 723 c1257 (Link to this contribution) I know from my experience as the Minister responsible that if, for example, you do door-to-door inqu...

Lord Phillips of Sudbury | 723 c1257 (Link to this contribution) The sentiments that the noble and learned Lord expresses are wholly admirable. One wants to get ever...

Lord Falconer of Thoroton | 723 c1259 (Link to this contribution) I sat on the committee with the Speaker in which we discussed those matters, and I remember the sett...

Lord Martin of Springburn | 723 c1259 (Link to this contribution) My Lords, I can possibly help. I have said on the Floor of this House that it was the case when I wa...

Lord Campbell-Savours | 723 c1259 (Link to this contribution) The noble Lord talked about a group. I am presuming that all parties belong to this group and not ju...

Lord Foulkes of Cumnock | 723 c1260-1 (Link to this contribution) No, I cannot; there are not any. It is an even dafter system than the one included in the Bill. Wha...

Baroness Thornton | 723 c1263-4 (Link to this contribution) This is my first intervention in the Bill. I am pleased to join my happy band of colleagues to, I ho...

Lord Martin of Springburn | 723 c1261-3 (Link to this contribution) My Lords, can a local authority or the Electoral Commission speak with accuracy regarding steps bein...

Lord Grocott | 723 c1260 (Link to this contribution) My noble friend referred to it as a ““daft”” system of proportional representation. For the benefit ...

Lord Foulkes of Cumnock | 723 c1259-60 (Link to this contribution) My noble and learned friend is absolutely right that this is a very important amendment. It is doubl...

Lord Campbell-Savours | 723 c1265 (Link to this contribution) Given that the Electoral Commission does not have this power, was it not highly irresponsible of it ...

Lord Soley | 723 c1264-5 (Link to this contribution) My Lords, I rise to speak on the role of the Electoral Commission, in which I, the noble Lord, Lord ...

Viscount Eccles | 723 c1266 (Link to this contribution) My Lords—

Lord Soley | 723 c1265-6 (Link to this contribution) There are two views about individual registration. I understand the argument, but this is not the ti...

Lord Howarth of Newport | 723 c1221 (Link to this contribution) My Lords—

Lord Wallace of Tankerness | 723 c1221 (Link to this contribution) I am not sure that I will ever be able to answer all the points.

Lord Soley | 723 c1220-1 (Link to this contribution) I understand the noble and learned Lord’s problem in that he is a member of the Liberal Democrat par...

Lord Wallace of Tankerness | 723 c1221 (Link to this contribution) The noble Lord rightly reminds me that I am speaking on behalf of the coalition Government, and I re...

Lord Lipsey | 723 c1220 (Link to this contribution) How does the noble and learned Lord square what he is saying about this part of the Bill being about...

Lord Wallace of Tankerness | 723 c1220 (Link to this contribution) We are debating the earlier part of the Bill and are not going to debate electoral systems. That wou...

Lord Harris of Haringey | 723 c1220 (Link to this contribution) I am grateful to the noble and learned Lord for giving way, albeit slightly after the point that he ...

Lord Wallace of Tankerness | 723 c1220 (Link to this contribution) The noble Lord, Lord Harris, is absolutely right about the Civil Service. It would be improper for i...

Lord Wallace of Tankerness | 723 c1218-20 (Link to this contribution) My Lords, first I thank the noble Lord, Lord Wills, for introducing a debate that has given rise to ...

Lord Howarth of Newport | 723 c1221 (Link to this contribution) The noble and learned Lord has dismissed suggestions as to why the Government might have alighted on...

Lord Wallace of Tankerness | 723 c1222-3 (Link to this contribution) Indeed, but the point I was about to make about the present size of the House of Commons is that it ...

Lord Bach | 723 c1223 (Link to this contribution) The noble and learned Lord said that the numbers have gone up. I am sure that he knows that the numb...

Lord Wallace of Tankerness | 723 c1223 (Link to this contribution) I have no reason to doubt the noble Lord, Lord Bach, but will he accept that, with the exception of ...

Lord Wills | 723 c1223 (Link to this contribution) My Lords—

Baroness McDonagh | 723 c1222 (Link to this contribution) May I add to that?

Lord Wallace of Tankerness | 723 c1222 (Link to this contribution) I will give way to the noble Baroness in a moment. The noble Lord is factually correct but as I was ...

Baroness McDonagh | 723 c1222 (Link to this contribution) I want to add that not only has the number has crept up but the electorate has increased from 33 mil...

Lord Wallace of Tankerness | 723 c1221-2 (Link to this contribution) I thank the noble Lord for that question, because he has illustrated that if he had not intervened I...

Lord Bach | 723 c1222 (Link to this contribution) The noble and learned Lord says that in the past Parliament has directed certain matters regarding t...

Lord Wills | 723 c1225 (Link to this contribution) My Lords—

Lord Wallace of Tankerness | 723 c1225-6 (Link to this contribution) The noble Lord will get an opportunity to reply. That does not mean to say that that is not an impo...

Lord Falconer of Thoroton | 723 c1224 (Link to this contribution) That was an absolutely riveting piece of information that the noble and learned Lord, Lord Wallace o...

Lord Wallace of Tankerness | 723 c1224-5 (Link to this contribution) I indicated that an important factor would be the size of the reformed House, because if the overall...

Baroness Liddell of Coatdyke | 723 c1227 (Link to this contribution) One day, I will be very interested to know how the figure of 129 was arrived at. There are many diff...

Lord Martin of Springburn | 723 c1226 (Link to this contribution) I did have the Forth and Clyde Canal to worry about.

Lord Wallace of Tankerness | 723 c1226-7 (Link to this contribution) And the mind boggles as to what kind of issues that may have given rise to. That probably just prove...

Lord Wills | 723 c1223 (Link to this contribution) I do not want to delay progress unduly, but the noble and learned Lord misrepresented, or misunderst...

Lord Wallace of Tankerness | 723 c1223-4 (Link to this contribution) The point that I was making about the exchange between the noble Lords, Lord Wills and Lord Foulkes,...

Lord Wallace of Tankerness | 723 c1223 (Link to this contribution) In fairness, it is the noble Lord’s amendment, but I want to address the points that have been raise...

Lord Tyler | 723 c1255-6 (Link to this contribution) I am very grateful to the noble and learned Lord for giving way. I am finding it difficult to follow...

Lord Falconer of Thoroton | 723 c1256 (Link to this contribution) I do not think that it is a subjective view. The commission would not be asked to guarantee that eve...

Lord Tyler | 723 c1256 (Link to this contribution) The noble Lord’s amendment says that every local authority has taken all reasonable steps, so presum...

Lord Falconer of Thoroton | 723 c1256 (Link to this contribution) This new review could not start before every local authority had done that, but what would the excus...

Lord McAvoy | 723 c1256 (Link to this contribution) I thank my noble and learned friend for giving way. Is he aware that the City of Glasgow Council rec...

Lord Falconer of Thoroton | 723 c1256-7 (Link to this contribution) I am absolutely clear that the Electoral Commission would be perfectly capable of setting out what i...

Lord Wallace of Tankerness | 723 c1227-8 (Link to this contribution) I sincerely hope that when the Boundary Commission produces its review, if this Bill goes on to the ...

Lord Wills | 723 c1228-9 (Link to this contribution) My Lords, this has been a significant debate. Everyone who has sat through the past three and a half...

Lord Falconer of Thoroton | 723 c1253 (Link to this contribution) 54A: Clause 10, page 8, leave out lines 14 and 15 insert— ““(a) initially by a date to be specified ...

Lord Elystan-Morgan | 723 c1202 (Link to this contribution) Does the noble Lord recollect that this matter has been carefully considered before, in 1992 when th...

Lord Lipsey | 723 c1200-1 (Link to this contribution) The noble Lord was very grateful that I gave way, but I am even more grateful to see him popping up ...

Lord Desai | 723 c1201 (Link to this contribution) Is my noble friend suggesting that the first part of this Bill is all right and the second part is c...

Lord Lipsey | 723 c1201-2 (Link to this contribution) I made my criticisms of Part 1 during its passage. We have another chance to consider it at Report. ...

Lord Touhig | 723 c1202 (Link to this contribution) The House should be grateful to my noble friend Lord Wills for his amendment because it gives the Ho...

Lord Lipsey | 723 c1199-200 (Link to this contribution) My Lords, with this amendment, we move from Part 1 to Part 2. I shall make one important observation...

Lord Tyler | 723 c1200 (Link to this contribution) I am grateful to the noble Lord, Lord Lipsey, for giving way. He was a very distinguished member of ...

Lord Thomas of Swynnerton | 723 c1199 (Link to this contribution) My Lords, I speak as an independent who usually supports the coalition Government, but I must say th...

Lord Harris of Haringey | 723 c1207-9 (Link to this contribution) The case that I am making is that we have to define the appropriate numerical relationship between t...

Lord Howarth of Newport | 723 c1209 (Link to this contribution) Does my noble friend agree that the factor he has just been speaking of will be exacerbated in conse...

Lord Harris of Haringey | 723 c1207 (Link to this contribution) No, my Lords, I am suggesting that the noble Lord no doubt had to work 50 per cent harder to deliver...

Lord Tyler | 723 c1207 (Link to this contribution) I am grateful to the noble Lord for giving way. He is making a very powerful case for equalising the...

Lord Mawhinney | 723 c1207 (Link to this contribution) I have had the privilege of serving in the other place. I started immediately after a boundary redis...

Lord Harris of Haringey | 723 c1206-7 (Link to this contribution) I am merely saying that some people—the noble Lord, Lord Rennard, is clearly one of them—believe tha...

Lord Rennard | 723 c1206 (Link to this contribution) Has the noble Lord just confirmed that there is a conspiracy and that he is not a part of it?

Lord Harris of Haringey | 723 c1206 (Link to this contribution) My Lords, my noble friend Lord Wills has done the Committee an enormous service by presenting this a...

Lord Knight of Weymouth | 723 c1204-6 (Link to this contribution) I support Amendment 54ZA, in the name of my noble friend Lord Wills, because it would give us an opp...

Lord Touhig | 723 c1203-4 (Link to this contribution) I endorse the point made by the noble Lord. As part of the structure of our unwritten constitution—t...

Lord Maclennan of Rogart | 723 c1212-3 (Link to this contribution) What I do recognise is that in my lifetime the entitlement to vote has changed considerably. There w...

Lord Foulkes of Cumnock | 723 c1213 (Link to this contribution) Does my noble friend—I still think of the noble Lord as my noble friend—not agree that the Scottish ...

Lord Maclennan of Rogart | 723 c1213-4 (Link to this contribution) I, alas, disagree with the noble Lord on that. As he said, I served on the Scottish Constitutional C...

Lord Harris of Haringey | 723 c1209 (Link to this contribution) My noble friend is absolutely right. The projections that people have talked about—of the flows of p...

Lord Boateng | 723 c1210-1 (Link to this contribution) My Lords, we are privileged in this House to serve in a Parliament that is widely perceived the worl...

Lord Foulkes of Cumnock | 723 c1209-10 (Link to this contribution) My Lords, I make just two brief points, which arise from the debate so far. The first follows what m...

Lord Soley | 723 c1211 (Link to this contribution) I am grateful to my noble friend for touching on an important issue that I want to raise when we dis...

Lord Maclennan of Rogart | 723 c1212 (Link to this contribution) My Lords, I have no mandate to speak on this matter for the coalition but I have listened to the deb...

Lord Mawhinney | 723 c1217 (Link to this contribution) Just for the record, I made no such implication as the noble and learned Lord has attributed to me. ...

Lord Falconer of Thoroton | 723 c1217-8 (Link to this contribution) I apologise. I misunderstood what the noble Lord said. Obviously, further work would need to be done...

Lord Maclennan of Rogart | 723 c1214 (Link to this contribution) There are many ways in which one can be an active citizen, and I enumerated some of them when introd...

Lord Sewel | 723 c1214 (Link to this contribution) In that case, is the noble Lord saying that the individual citizen is limited to being just the indi...

Lord Maclennan of Rogart | 723 c1214 (Link to this contribution) Yes, I will. We have a very imperfect system of participatory democracy, because we have a rotten el...

Lord Sewel | 723 c1214 (Link to this contribution) I wonder whether the noble Lord will now try and square the argument he is putting forward with the ...

Lord Gilbert | 723 c1215 (Link to this contribution) Oh yes it was. The centre of Dudley was a part of Worcestershire that was wholly surrounded by Staff...

Lord Gilbert | 723 c1214-5 (Link to this contribution) My Lords, in the 27 years that I was in another place I represented all that time the good people of...

Subjects

Boundary commissions

Constituency size

Constituencies

Electoral register

Local government

Legislation

Parliamentary Voting System and Constituencies Bill 2010-12

Link

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