Recall of MPs Bill

I am sorry to interrupt the Minister so early on. He will know that in Northern Ireland, the chie...

Yes, it will be up to the local authority to provide additional staff to help the electoral offic...

Will the Minister accept that there is a certain inconsistency about the geographical size of con...

The hon. Gentleman makes a good point that takes me further into my argument. We are taking addit...

Is there any particular reasons for eight weeks?

The view is that eight weeks—roughly 40 working days—gives sufficient time, or even more than amp...

I am very grateful to the Minister for allowing me to intervene again. I gently remind him that, ...

I thank the hon. Lady for her intervention—she is welcome to intervene as much as possible. The p...

Will the Minister clarify his point about the system working in the same way as a general electio...

That is a very good question. We will set that out in regulations, but I anticipate that the voti...

I am grateful to the Minister, but if I understand him correctly, the Government are proposing to...

The hon. Gentleman mentions a town hall or local council office, but it is not necessarily for th...

rose—

I detect another intervention.

It is very kind indeed of the Minister to invite an intervention before I am even on my feet. As ...

Once again, the hon. Lady makes a very powerful point. As I said, the practice has been designed ...

I apologise—I perhaps should have raised this point with the Minister in advance—but I have being...

The hon. Gentleman makes a very smart point. He is clearly reading the Bill in detail, as he shou...

For the sake of clarity, can the Minister sum up what the position is now in Northern Ireland for...

The advice I have received is that the same protections on voter ID will apply in Northern Irelan...

I am very grateful indeed to the Minister for repeating the explanation that floated across the C...

I appreciate the point the hon. Lady is making; I am happy to have a look at it, assess the situa...

I want to make a few brief comments and ask the Minister some questions about clause 6 and schedu...

I imagine that, for the Western Isles or even parts of rural County Durham, four places would be ...

That is precisely the point; my hon. Friend puts it very well. Surely, given the extreme variatio...

My hon. Friend is making a good point. The MP in question might not lose his or her seat followin...

That, too, is a good point, which deserves careful consideration. I think we all know from our ex...

We should bear in mind what has happened in the United States, where so much pressure is put on p...

That concern was expressed during our last sitting, and it is a concern felt by many people in th...

It is a great pleasure to be serving under your chairmanship in the Chamber, Sir Roger, rather th...

I know the hon. Member for Richmond Park (Zac Goldsmith) is unable to be here today through illne...

My amendment is supported by my hon. Friend the Member for Richmond Park (Zac Goldsmith), and he ...

I am sorry, but the hon. Gentleman has not answered my question. The point the hon. Member for Ri...

The hon. Gentleman is tempting me to make arguments for somebody who is not here, which is a wond...

I am grateful to the hon. Gentleman for allowing me to intervene on his geography lesson, which i...

I rather agreed with the hon. Lady when she expressed her concern about the difficulties of votin...

It is a Daily Mail myth that postal vote fraud is rampant. When the Electoral Commission ran its ...

There are undoubtedly greater difficulties with postal voting. My major concern is that it underm...

I want to comment on amendment 38, which the hon. Member for North East Somerset (Jacob Rees-Mogg...

Is my hon. Friend aware that unlike for an election, where the returning officer is required to c...

I was about to come on to that. The interesting thing is that even though the hon. Member for Ric...

I want to make a few observations on the amendment tabled by my hon. Friend and constituency neig...

I thank the hon. Gentleman for the eloquent points he is making. Given that the ballot paper is v...

I do think that, because I have had the great pleasure, during nearly 18 years in this House, of ...

I agree with what the hon. Gentleman is saying, but is there not a slight difference? In an elect...

I am not clear what the process is. The hon. Gentleman may well have more information on this tha...

This is also about knowing what the process would be to ensure that the signature being sent in i...

The hon. Gentleman is right about that. We all have experience of petitions where we look down th...

The hon. Gentleman makes a good point. The signatures and names and addresses are not going to be...

The hon. Gentleman is of course absolutely right. Indeed, people sometimes forget that they have ...

First, I rise to speak in support of amendment 38, which seems to make a reasonable point, one I ...

The hon. Gentleman will correct me if I am wrong, but in Northern Ireland, I think, voters must s...

The hon. Gentleman raises another significant point in the Northern Ireland context. Yes, ID is r...

I agree that in Northern Ireland that provision is in place, but in the rest of the UK it is not....

The hon. Gentleman’s point gives rise to the question of location. Whether there is a minimum or ...

May I first welcome the hon. Member for North East Somerset (Jacob Rees-Mogg) to his place? I und...

The hon. Gentleman will recognise that I take the view that the Chamber is the final and highest ...

I thought the hon. Gentleman took the view that Her Majesty was the final authority; he is obviou...

I suggest that without it the process would be completely open to fraud, because anyone could go ...

My hon. Friend is absolutely correct. We think that there are concerns about validity. The Member...

That suggestion would not get around the point made by the hon. Member for Foyle (Mark Durkan) ab...

I am grateful to my hon. Friend, but you will forgive me, Sir Roger, if I do not speculate about ...

Welcome, Sir Roger, to the Chair. A number of very good points have been made and I shall deal wi...

In an AV referendum, postal voters would be sent a ballot paper. Here, we are asking people to co...

If the hon. Gentleman will allow me to develop my point, he will realise that I was speaking spec...

The Minister says that there has been consultation with the Electoral Commission, but the commiss...

There is not a sliver of doubt in my mind. I am smiling because I actually agree with the hon. Ge...

The Minister refers repeatedly to the secondary legislation process and the Standing Orders. Howe...

We will be using the powers of secondary legislation to amend the Bill once we have been through ...

I applaud the Minister for being open-minded about this issue and I realise he is describing a pr...

Let me finish describing the process I was outlining. We will get Royal Assent for the Bill, unde...

I say in the spirit of bipartisanship that I think the Minister may have misspoken. The hon. Memb...

rose—

We all want the same thing.

As the hon. Gentleman rightly points out from a sedentary position, we all want the same thing: w...

It is important to point out that these are not polling stations but collection points for petiti...

The main point is that the person who determines where the polling stations are located is the pe...

In my experience, it is possible to influence the outcome of these things. I remember that many y...

The hon. Gentleman seems to assume that the only way in which people can participate in this proc...

I think that most electoral registration officers will fulfil their duties as petition officers w...

The hon. Gentleman makes an excellent and logical point that is consistent with what we are tryin...

I am grateful to the Minister, who is being incredibly patient given the number of questions. I h...

I will come to that point later.

The hon. Member for Foyle (Mark Durkan) asked whether anyo...

Will the Minister give way on that point?

May I try to get through my speech?

Will the Minister give way?

I will just carry on.

The hon. Member for Caerphilly (Wayne David) asked about the requirem...

On a point of order, Sir Roger. I think that the purpose of a Committee is for the Minister to an...

The hon. Gentleman has been in the House long enough to know that the Member who has the Floor de...

Thank you, Sir Roger. I think I have been quite generous in allowing interventions in the spirit ...

What would be the purpose of a marked register if it were not public? If the public did not know ...

That is precisely why we are considering the issue. Obviously, the point of the register is to ma...

I am most grateful to the Minister for giving way. He kindly said to me at the beginning of the d...

I thank the hon. Lady for that point. The Government are trying to strike the right balance. My h...

I am enormously grateful to the Minister for giving way. If he persists with this line of argumen...

I appreciate the hon. Lady’s particular point about Northern Ireland, but I do not think that the...

Only 10% of voters would have to sign the recall petition during those eight weeks, which is a lo...

Eight weeks is reasonable, given that there will be a campaign on both sides. Once there is a not...

What I specifically asked about was how many electors the Government, in reaching that total, est...

I will have to get back to the hon. Gentleman on that specific point of detail.

In rounding...

rose—

Order. If the hon. Gentleman wishes to make a point of order, I will take it, but he knows that o...

We now come to amendment 38, which has not been moved, so it is a question of whether any hon. Me...

I thought I had moved it in the speech I made earlier.

Let me explain, for the benefit of the whole Committee, that only the lead measure, which in this...

May I move the amendment with a few words, Sir Roger?

No.

With this it will be convenient to discuss clause 15 stand part.

Clauses 14 and 15 set out the actions that must be taken to determine whether a petition is succe...

rose—

I am sorry, but I have concluded my remarks. Perhaps the hon. Lady would like to make a speech.