Clause 10 - Establishment of combined region
European Parliament (Representation) Bill
10:15 am
Mr William Cash (Stone, Conservative)
I beg to move amendment No. 46, in
clause 10, page 5, line 24, at end insert
'the name of which shall include the words ''and Gibraltar''.'.
In certain respects, the amendment is important, but it is also interesting. I hope that Committee members at one point or another, through sheer willpower, will bring themselves to say something about at least one provision. However, I see from the fact that the Whip is shaking his head that they have not the slightest intention of doing so. We are keeping well to the programme resolution, and if I restricted my remarks, we would finish in about an hour and a half. However, I am certain that if we were to do that, as the hon. Member for Somerton and Frome would agree, we would not have properly considered the Bill.
The amendment is important for many reasons. Let us imagine that we have a combined region that is called, for the sake of argument, the south-west. As the hon. Member for Somerton and Frome noted, that is the likely suggestion. We do not know for sure, and extensive discussions are needed with the Electoral Commission before we find out. I do not think that a huge battle is going on in the United Kingdom about the issue. There are preferences—both the west midlands and Northern Ireland have made suggestions—but those are matters that we are happy to leave to subsequent discussions and the consultation process. However, I most emphatically would not be happy, for reasons to which I have already referred, if the name of that region, as provided for in the Bill—I think that section 1 of the European Parliamentary Elections Act 2002 specifies the names of the electoral regions—did not have the words ''and Gibraltar'' with the name of whichever region is to be conjoined with Gibraltar.
I shall put my point in temperate language, because the last thing that I want to do on a matter of such importance is to antagonise the Minister or make it personal. That is far from my thoughts and intentions, so I shall explain my point gently. The people of Gibraltar have been given an opportunity through the Denise Matthews case. They are good honest citizens who now have a chance to take part in elections in a given area. We do not have the faintest idea—or at least, I do not—for whom they will all eventually vote. There will be a candidate, but I do not know whether there will be a Gibraltarian candidate—I should think that that is unlikely. However, within the framework of the electoral system, when the election happens they will have absolutely as much right as you or I over what goes on in their constituencies. They will be citizens like we are, exercising that right.
Gibraltar is being added into the process in special circumstances, with many constitutional and practical implications. I shall emphasise the practical because constitutional matters, important though they can be in defining parameters, make no sense at all if they are not related to practicalities. I am not interested in constitutional theology, but in a proper, fair and balanced conclusion arising from discussions. That is what constitutional matters should be about, and in that sense this is essentially a constitutional issue, because the people of Gibraltar are real people who ought to be recognised.
To add the words ''and Gibraltar'' to the name will give an opportunity for those people's concerns and the matters relative to their daily lives to be reflected in the elections. Simply to throw them into the pot and then say, ''Right, you're now part of the south-west region'' would be geographical nonsense and rather extraordinary, although I concede that the situation is unusual.