First, I rise to speak in support of amendment 38, which seems to make a reasonable point, one I understood the hon. Member for Richmond Park (Zac Goldsmith) supported: whatever the trigger points for a petition, there certainly had to a be a sufficient number of places for people to go, particularly in a far-flung constituency, but the petition points would not replicate the number of polling stations or anything else like that. The point was being made that the petition points should not be so numerous or diverse as to create a wide open situation and be much more difficult to manage, particularly given that a period of time is being offered for the petition to be signed. Unlike a single day, polling day, for voting, a designated period, which some of us think is too long, is provided for in the petition. It gives people ample time to keep the thing going in a way that could be politically debilitating to a constituency or a city.
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There are issues with the details of the clauses. Even those of us who differ on whether there should be more than the very limited trigger points provided for in the Bill recognise that a petitioning system for recall must work well and credibly. Once there is a whiff of scandal or abuse in relation to one recall, the response might be to abandon recall altogether, so none of us should want sloppy reform, or it will be unsustained.
On amendment 38, the hon. Member for North Down (Lady Hermon) made an intervention. As the hon. Member for Somerton and Frome (Mr Heath) suggested, in the context of Northern Ireland, one would need to consider not just the mileage in geographic terms, but the neutrality or accessibility of locations. That might include geopolitical considerations and sensitivities, the colour of kerbstones, the presence of flags and other imagery and so on. In addition, there is the need to ensure that locations are accessible by public transport, if constituents have more by way of public transport arrangements than the hon. Gentleman. That would be hugely important.
Gathering the petition is not just a matter of designating the points; there needs to be good management. Other hon. Members have asked whether there will be variability or an easy come, easy go approach to timing. People would want to know that petition points were managed properly and efficiently, and that if queries arose, there was someone in the position of presiding officer to talk to.
There is also the question of how one signs the petition. It has been suggested that it will be an offence to sign a wrong name. Is somebody going to be watching every name that is signed? In current elections using ballot papers, people are free to spoil their vote. People could well put a spoiled entry on a petition form, but they could do so in a way that spoils other people’s entries as well, so there are issues relating to the management and policing of the petition process.