After all that excitement, I will try to be brief in presenting these minor and technical amendments. Amendment 9 seeks to deal with some of the awkward wording throughout the Bill on what is required for a recall petition. It simply states that the Minister should talk to the Electoral Commission and then come up with the wording. That would make for a much more flexible approach. I hope that the Government will agree that that is a cleaner and better way forward.
Amendment 10 deals with some particularly ugly wording. The current wording on the petition signing sheet states:
“If less than 10% of eligible registered electors in the constituency sign the petition, the MP will not lose [his/her] seat, and a by-election will not be held, as a result of the petition.”
Perhaps it should state
“and therefore no by-election will be held.”
The amendment seeks to turn what is on the petition signing sheet into something approaching the English language. Again, I hope that is not controversial.
Amendments 11, 12 and 13 deal with some errors that were pointed out in Committee—[Interruption.]