My Lords, I am most grateful to the noble Lord for tabling this amendment; we have had a very interesting debate. I appreciate that an eight-week period may seem lengthy, but the main reason why it was considered appropriate is that we thought it was important that constituents are given sufficient time to consider any available information from the Member of Parliament or from those concerned with the petition. I very much hope, as I said before, that we do not have these recall petitions. I hope and expect that the behaviour of Members of Parliament will be of the highest standard, and that this will not happen.
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In answer to the point of the noble Lord, Lord Hughes, an eight-week period is appropriate because we think that it is important that all the available information should be seen not in a rushed and precipitate manner, although I do not think that it will be Madame Defarge and cherries. We want the feeling that this period is one of mature reflection and that there is proper consideration over a period of time. The shorter period that the noble Lord, Lord Howarth, has proposed could result in electors feeling pressurised into making their decisions without all the facts before them. I understand the point that the noble Lord, Lord Howarth, is raising about a Member of Parliament being hung out to dry, but we hope that that not will happen. We hope that this will be an eight-week period of reflection.
In its briefing today, the Electoral Commission has stated that it does not support this amendment. It is concerned that a three-week signing period would significantly reduce the accessibility of the petition process to people entitled to sign. We share this view. Reducing the signing period to three weeks could make it difficult for those who wish to sign the petition by post. This is the point I would like to make to the noble Lord, Lord Grocott, in response to his mention of the practical reasons. One of these, to which I will refer later, is that it is likely that in certain parts of the kingdom, perhaps in Northern Ireland or maybe some far-flung places, signing by post will be a popular way in which constituents will wish to respond.
While existing electors with a postal vote in place would automatically be sent a signing sheet when the petition opens, electors without a postal vote who wished to sign by this method would have to submit an application, have it approved and receive their postal signature sheet in good enough time to return it before the petition closes. At elections the deadline for making an application by post is 11 working days before the poll. Under the noble Lord’s amendment, which proposes a 15 working-day signing period, the time available for an elector to decide whether to apply for a postal signing sheet would be unduly constrained.
Electors are very familiar with the ways in which they can vote at an election. However, recall petitions are likely to be rare and the first time that an elector will receive information on the alternative methods for signing a petition will be when they receive their petition notice card. Under the amendment, electors would have to decide probably too quickly, perhaps within the first week of the signing period, whether they wished to sign by post and request an application.
Petition notice cards will need to be dispatched once the register for administering the petition has been created. The earliest that this can happen is three working days before the petition opens. Assuming an elector received their petition notice card on the day before the petition opened, they would have only a short time to apply for a postal signing sheet. We will discuss the deadline for postal signing-sheet applications in a later group, but if we look at the deadline that exists at elections, postal-vote applications must be made by the 11th working day before the poll to allow the applications to be checked, and postal votes to be printed, despatched and returned. This allows very little time for electors to consider their options and decide, in this case, whether they wish to sign the petition.
For a variety of reasons postal signing could prove to be a popular and convenient way for electors to participate in a recall petition. Therefore, the Government believe that having a signing period of eight weeks is desirable and necessary, as it ensures that electors have time to consider the arguments put forward, and if they choose to sign the petition, to decide when, and in what way, it is most convenient for them to do so. As the Electoral Commission points out, three weeks would significantly reduce the accessibility to electors of the petition process.
I entirely understand the good intent and the kindness of the noble Lord, Lord Howarth, in bringing this amendment forward.