Clause 2 - Recommendations by Electoral Commission - relating to changes in number of United Kingdom MEPs
European Parliament (Representation) Bill
2:30 pm
Mr William Cash (Stone, Conservative)
We are dealing here with something that the Deputy Speaker was anxious, for a variety of reasons, that we should not discuss on Second Reading. The ingenious drafting of the hon. Member for Somerton and Frome (Mr. Heath) has produced an amendment that gives us an opportunity to examine methods of election.
At least one other hon. Member in this Room is a member of the European Scrutiny Committee and he will recall that we produced a report last June in which the method of election to the European Parliament was discussed. In a nutshell, the Committee decided, after a vote, to delete proportional representation for election to the European Parliament in its application to the United Kingdom and wisely advocated a return to the first-past-the-post system. I do not know whether the hon. Member for Somerton and Frome knew about that, but it was interesting because no one could say that the Government's party was not well represented on that Committee with a substantial majority. The bottom line is that that demonstrates that, irrespective of what may be contained in the treatiesI recall the provisions in the treaties covering uniform electoral procedurethere is advocacy, combined with an element of compulsion. I cannot say that it is absolute, but that is the sort of generality of the position.
To say the least, the hon. Gentleman is sensibly bringing to the Committee's attention the notion that the Electoral Commission shall review the current method of election of MEPs and then assess the efficacy of the various methods. The trigger for the hon. Gentleman's objectives is that reference is then made to ensuring proportionality, accountability and effectiveness of representation, and he follows that up [Interruption.] This is not the same amendment?