Clause 11 - Power to make consequential etc provision
European Parliament (Representation) Bill
11:15 am
Ms Yvette Cooper (Parliamentary Secretary, Lord Chancellor's Department; Pontefract and Castleford, Labour)
As the hon. Member for Stone explained, the amendments relate to the use of the powers in part 2, especially in clauses 11 and 16, to make secondary legislation. The Bill provides only the basic framework for the enfranchisement of Gibraltar: it sets out the creation of the combined region, the electoral register for Gibraltar, and the franchise. It is right that those central, important elements should be in the primary legislation. In practice, however, there is a range of existing electoral law that currently applies to the whole of the UK and other areas in the combined region that need to be applied in Gibraltar too, modified or adapted as necessary.
It being twenty-five minutes past Eleven o'clock, The Chairman adjourned the Committee without Question put, pursuant to the Standing Order.
Adjourned till this day at half-past Two o'clock.