House of Commons Scottish Affairs Committee Coincidence of Parliamentary Constituency Boundaries in Scotland and the Consequences of Change First Report of Session 2003–04 Report, together with formal minutes, oral and written evidence Ordered by The House of Commons to be printed 21 January 2004 HC 77 Incorporating HC 1256–i to iii, Session 2002-03 and HC 77–i Published on 3 February 2004 by authority of the House of Commons London: The Stationery Office Limited £15.50 The Scottish Affairs Committee The Scottish Affairs Committee is appointed by the House of Commons to examine the expenditure, administration, and policy of the Scotland Office (including (i) relations with the Scottish Parliament and (ii) administration and expenditure of the office of the Advocate General for Scotland (but excluding individual cases and advice given within government by the Advocate General)). Current membership Mrs Irene Adams MP (Labour, Paisley North) (Chairman) Mr Alistair Carmichael MP (Liberal Democrat, Orkney and Shetland) Mr Peter Duncan MP (Conservative, Galloway and Upper Nithsdale) Mr David Hamilton MP (Labour, Midlothian) Mr Ian Liddell-Grainger MP (Conservative, Bridgwater) Mr John Lyons MP (Labour, Strathkelvin and Bearsden) Mr John MacDougall MP (Labour, Fife Central) Ann McKechin MP (Labour, Glasgow Maryhill) John Robertson MP (Labour, Glasgow Anniesland) Mr Mohammed Sarwar MP (Labour, Glasgow Govan) Mr Michael Weir MP (SNP, Angus) Powers The committee is one of the departmental select committees, the powers of which are set out in House of Commons Standing Orders, principally in SO No 152. These are available on the Internet via www.parliament.uk. Publications The Reports and evidence of the Committee are published by The Stationery Office by Order of the House. All publications of the Committee (including press notices) are on the Internet at www.parliament.uk/parliamentary_committees/scottish_affairs_committee.cfm. A list of Reports of the Committee in the present Parliament is at the back of this volume. Committee staff The current staff of the Committee are Mike Clark(Clerk), Diane Nelson (Committee Assistant) and Joanne Larcombe (Secretary). Contacts All correspondence should be addressed to the Clerk of the Scottish Affairs Committee, House of Commons, 7 Millbank, London SW1P 3JA. The telephone number for general enquiries is 020 7219 6295; the Committee’s email address is [email protected]. Coincidence of Parliamentary Constituency Boundaries in Scotland and the Consequences of Change 1 Contents Report Page 1 Introduction 3 2 The Size of the Scottish Parliament 3 3 Coterminosity of Constituency Boundaries 5 4 Voting Systems and Methods 7 Four Voting Systems? 7 New Voting Methods 9 5 The Scottish Parliament (Constituencies) Bill 10 Conclusions and recommendations 11 Formal minutes 12 Witnesses 15 List of written evidence 16 Publications from the Scottish Affairs Committee since 2001 17 Coincidence of Parliamentary Constituency Boundaries in Scotland and the Consequences of Change 3 1 Introduction 1. In March 2002 the Boundary Commission for Scotland published provisional recommendations which would reduce the number of Scottish constituencies represented at Westminster from 72 to 59. On 18 December 2002 the then Secretary of State for Scotland announced that the Government would be seeking to amend the Scotland Act 1998 so that the number of Members of the Scottish Parliament would not, as a consequence, be reduced pro rata.1 The Committee announced on 16 September 2003 that it would be undertaking an inquiry into the consequences for Scotland’s governance and political life, including the implications for voters, of the creation of different constituency boundaries in Scotland for elections to the United Kingdom and to the Scottish Parliament. 2. The Committee held four sessions of oral evidence, taking evidence from representatives from the Scottish Labour Party, the Scottish Conservative and Unionist Party, the Scottish Liberal Democrats, the Scottish National Party, the Convention of Scottish Local Authorities (COSLA), the Scottish Trades Union Congress , the Electoral Commission, the Association of Electoral Administrators (AEA), Professor Robert Hazell and Dr David Butler, Patricia Ferguson MSP, Minister for Parliamentary Business, the Scottish Executive, and Rt Hon Alistair Darling MP, Secretary of State for Scotland. 3. Whilst the Committee was conducting its evidence sessions, the Scottish Parliament (Constituencies) Bill was introduced, and received its formal first reading, on 27 November 2003. The Bill will “replace Schedule 1 to the Scotland Act 1998 making new provision in relation to the constituencies for the Scottish Parliament”,2 removing the present link between the constituencies for the Scottish Parliament and those for the House of Commons.3 The Committee’s view on how the Bill’s further stages should be dealt with is set out at the end of this Report. 2 The Size of the Scottish Parliament 4. The first issue the Committee addressed in its inquiry was whether there should be any change in the current number of 129 Members of the Scottish Parliament.4 When the representatives of the four main Scottish political parties appeared before the Committee, they were asked whether they were in favour of retaining the number of MSPs at 129 (the figure arrived at during the discussions in the 1990s in the Scottish Constitutional Convention), in particular as a means of keeping the Committees of the Scottish Parliament functioning properly and in providing the Parliament with some stability. Dr Derek Barrie of the Scottish Liberal Democrats answered: 1 See Official Report, 18 December 2002, cols. 859-872 2 Bill 4 3 Bill 4–EN, para. 3 4 73 MSPs are elected for constituencies, with the remaining 56 being elected from one of eight regional lists 4 Coincidence of Parliamentary Constituency Boundaries in Scotland and the Consequences of Change “Yes. The committee system seems to be working very well in the Scottish Parliament and any time there is talk of reducing the numbers of Committees people claim that that will greatly increase the workload.”5 Cllr Mark McInnes of the Scottish Conservative and Unionist Party stated: “To make up the shortfall in Committees, we would see the Scottish Parliament working longer days rather than the present timetable to make up for those lost Members.”6 For the Scottish National Party, Mr Grant Thoms said: “When it comes to the number of Scottish Parliament Members, certainly 129 has been the minimum working arrangement, and experience has shown that, in terms of the Committee structure, it has been important to keep to that sort of level.”7 However, later on in his evidence, he said that, should full powers be returned to the Scottish Parliament, then: “…I would see a proportionate number of Members to the Scottish Parliament to make it workable for the increased workload that is there—not to say 600, but even 200 might cover the whole of Scotland in terms of the full powers that a Scottish Parliament could be looking at.”8 Mrs Lesley Quinn, for the Scottish Labour Party responded: “The Scottish Labour Party’s position at the moment is that the Scottish Parliament should remain at 129, and that has more to do with the stability of the Parliament in the first term, because there are a number of issues, and we believe there should be a full term to try and get some stability.”9 The Scottish Parliament’s Minister for Parliamentary Business said that both the Executive and the Scottish Parliament held the view that 129 MSPs was the correct number: “The Scottish Executive took the opportunity to respond to the consultation that was put under way by the then Secretary of State for Scotland on the issue and commented that 129 seemed to us to be the right number for the moment. In addition, the Scottish Parliament itself debated the issued and came to the same conclusion. We do have a shared view in that respect.”10 5 Q17 6 ibid 7 ibid 8 Q28 9 Q17 10 Q220 Coincidence of Parliamentary Constituency Boundaries in Scotland and the Consequences of Change 5 During his evidence, the Secretary of State for Scotland stated: “I am not aware of a great clamour in Scotland to increase the number of MSPs at all. That is not to say there may not be one or two, but I think people in Scotland will probably take the view that 129 is fine…”11 He continued: “It is fairly settled that the number of 129 will stay for the time being.”12 5. During its evidence sessions, the Committee was not made aware of any good case for the current number of MSPs to be either reduced or increased. We are satisfied, therefore, that the number of MSPs should remain, for the time being, at 129. 3 Coterminosity of Constituency Boundaries 6. There was consensus amongst witnesses that having coterminous boundaries for Westminster and Holyrood assisted political parties organisationally. In response to a question asking if coterminous boundaries would be desirable, representatives from the parties responded: “Within the Labour Party’s organisation, yes.”13 (Mrs Quinn) “Ideally, we would all agree with Lesley and we would like terms that make our lives easier.”14 (Cllr McInnes) “I agree with that. There is no doubt that, if we do not have coterminosity, there will be far more problems for the party hacks amongst us than for other people.”15 (Dr Barrie) 7. Whilst convenience for political parties is one benefit of having coterminous boundaries, it is far from being the most important. In his evidence, Grant Thoms of