House of Commons Political and Constitutional Reform Committee Parliamentary Voting System and Constituencies Bill Third Report of Session 2010–11 Report, together with formal minutes, oral and written evidence Ordered by the House of Commons to be printed 7 October 2010 pursuant to Standing Order No.137 HC 437 [incorporating HC 396-i-iii] Published on 11 October 2010 by authority of the House of Commons London: The Stationery Office Limited £0.00 The Political and Constitutional Reform Committee The Political and Constitutional Reform Committee is appointed by the House of Commons to consider political and constitutional reform. Current membership Mr Graham Allen MP (Labour, Nottingham North) (Chair) Nick Boles MP (Conservative, Grantham and Stamford) Mr Christopher Chope OBE MP (Conservative, Christchurch) Sheila Gilmore MP (Labour, Edinburgh East) Simon Hart MP (Conservative, Camarthen West and South Pembrokeshire) Tristram Hunt MP (Labour, Stoke on Trent Central) Mrs Eleanor Laing MP (Conservative, Epping Forest) Catherine McKinnell MP (Labour, Newcastle upon Tyne North) Sir Peter Soulsby MP (Labour, Leicester South) Mr Andrew Turner MP (Conservative, Isle of Wight) Stephen Williams MP (Liberal Democrat, Bristol West) Powers The committee’s powers are set out in House of Commons Standing Orders, principally in Temporary Standing Order (Political and Constitutional Reform Committee). These are available on the Internet via http://www.publications.parliament.uk/pa/cm/cmstords.htm. Publication 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/pcrc. Committee staff The current staff of the Committee are Steven Mark (Clerk), Lydia Menzies (Second Clerk), Hannah Stewart (Legal Specialist), Lorna Horton (Inquiry Manager), Emma Sawyer (Senior Committee Assistant), Annabel Goddard (Committee Assistant) and Rebecca Jones (Media Officer). Contacts All correspondence should be addressed to the Clerk of the Political and Constitutional Reform Committee, House of Commons, 7 Millbank, London SW1P 3JA. The telephone number for general enquiries is 020 7219 6287; the Committee’s email address is [email protected]. Parliamentary Voting System and Constituencies Bill 1 Contents Report Page Summary 3 1 Principle and process 4 2 Voting system for parliamentary elections 8 Referendum on the alternative vote system 8 Proposal to hold a referendum 8 Proposed referendum date 9 Combination provisions 14 The referendum question 15 Conduct of the referendum: design of the ballot papers 16 Control of loans etc to permitted participants 17 3 ‘Reduce and equalise’ 19 Number of seats 20 Equalisation of constituency electorates 23 The Government’s proposals 23 The current situation 24 Constituencies crossing other boundaries 25 Prospects for ongoing wide-scale change 26 Conclusions on equalisation 26 Preserved constituencies 30 Accuracy and completeness of the electoral roll 31 Public consultation on boundary changes 34 Executive power 39 Secretary of State’s power to amend the Boundary Commissions’ recommendations 39 Size of the ‘payroll vote’ in the House 40 4 Conclusion 42 Conclusions and recommendations 43 Formal Minutes 49 Witnesses 50 List of written evidence 51 List of unprinted evidence 52 List of Reports from the Committee during the current Parliament 52 2 Parliamentary Voting System and Constituencies Bill Parliamentary Voting System and Constituencies Bill 3 Summary The Parliamentary Voting Systems and Constituencies Bill seeks fundamentally to change the political establishment in the UK. We regret that it is being pushed through Parliament in a manner that limits both legislative and external scrutiny of its impact, and may consequently undermine the Government’s intention to restore the public’s faith in Parliament. Given constraints of the legislative timetable we have conducted this inquiry with the aim of producing a Report which we hope will assist the House at the Committee stage of the Bill. For primarily political reasons, the Bill links two sets of provisions that could have been considered separately. The Bill does not include proposals on reforming the House of Lords which would have allowed the composition of Parliament to be developed in the round. While we welcome the decision to hold a referendum on the introduction of an alternative vote system rather than introducing such a fundamental change solely through legislation, we note that there is no clarity as to when this or future administrations will hold referendums on issues of constitutional importance. The current timetable for the referendum is tight. If either House substantially amends the rules for holding the referendum the Government may have to reconsider the timing of the vote or run the risk of serious administrative difficulties which could undermine the outcome. This is a particular concern in the light of the facts that: the Bill will need amendment to allow the referendum and other elections to be held using the same facilities; the Bill is unclear whether funding restrictions apply to the media; and the Electoral Commission has expressed concern over both the wording of the referendum question and the design of the ballot papers. While we agree there may be a case for reducing the number of MPs from 650 to 600, the Government has singularly failed to make it. We recommend the Government assesses and, if possible, mitigate through amendments, the likely impact of the wholesale redrawing of constituency boundaries on grassroots politics. Members of the Committee have tabled an amendment which would ensure all four Boundary Commissions can utilise the full 5% variation in electoral quota according to clear and consistent rules. There is no alternative to using the December 2010 electoral roll to determine constituencies; whether the flaws in the register undermine the equalisation requirement is a matter for the House. The proposed exceptions to the electoral quota requirement make sense but the House may wish to consider further exceptions where there is evidence that voters are prepared to be under-represented to preserve strong local ties. Public consultation on the boundary changes will be vital to the perceived legitimacy of the Boundary Commissions’ decisions and we have tabled amendments we believe will enhance that process. We also recommend the Secretary of State’s power to alter the recommendations of the independent Boundary Commissions be limited to the correction of errors, and that the “payroll vote” in the House of Commons be reduced in line with any reduction in the overall number of MPs. 4 Parliamentary Voting System and Constituencies Bill 1 Principle and process 1. The Parliamentary Voting System and Constituencies Bill was presented to the House on Thursday 22 July 2010. Earlier that day the Leader of the House had announced that the Second Reading of the Bill would take place on Monday 6 September.1 The intervening recess has meant that there have been only two full sitting days between presentation and Second Reading. The provisions in the Bill have not benefited from wider consultation in the form of a green or white paper or draft bill. Although the broad outlines of the Bill were signalled to the House by the Deputy Prime Minister on 5 July 2010,2 we, the House and the general public did not see the detailed text of the proposals before 22 July. We produced a short Report at the end of July, in which we took issue with the process that the Government had chosen to adopt.3 The Government has declared that the Parliamentary Systems and Constituencies Bill is intended as a “major step” towards restoring people’s faith in Parliament.4 The Government’s failure to consult on the provisions in this Bill risks undermining that laudable intention. 2. The Bill is in two parts: the first would provide for a referendum on changing the voting system at general elections to the Alternative Vote (AV); the second would reduce the size of the House of Commons from 650 Members to 600, and require every parliamentary constituency in the country (apart from a small number in northern Scotland) to contain the same number of registered voters within a margin of ten per cent – this project has become known as ‘reduce and equalise’. Clause 6 of the Bill would ensure that the result of the referendum would be respected, but that the effect of a ‘yes’ vote would be implemented only at the same time as ‘reduce and equalise’ came into effect. 3. The Liberal Democrats have long campaigned for a change to the electoral system, but AV is by no means their first choice: their 2010 manifesto stated a preference for the Single Transferable Vote (STV), a system which would have been electorally advantageous to them.5 The Conservative Party manifesto, in contrast, affirmed their support for the existing first- past-the-post system.6 The only party to support a referendum on AV before the 2010 election was the Labour Party.7 The Conservative Party alone of the three largest parties advocated “‘fair vote’ reforms to equalise the size of constituency electorates”, and it has been suggested that they would be the main electoral beneficiaries of such reforms.8 The Conservative Party promised to reduce the number of Members of Parliament by 10% (to 585); the Liberal 1 HC Deb 22 July 2010, c 559 2 HC Deb 5 July 2010, c 23 3 Parliamentary Voting Systems and Constituencies Bill, Political and Constitutional Reform Committee, First Report 2010- 2011 4 HC Deb 6 September 2010, c 34 5 Liberal Democrat Manifesto 2010 p 88 6 Invitation to join the Government of Britain, The Conservative Party Manifesto 2010, p 67 7 HC Deb 6 September 2010, c 45 8 Invitation to join the Government of Britain, The Conservative Party Manifesto 2010, p 67 Parliamentary Voting System and Constituencies Bill 5 Democrats to reduce the number of Members by 150 (to 500), but as a consequence of moving to STV.9 4.