Clause 13 - The Gibraltar register
European Parliament (Representation) Bill
3:45 pm
Mr William Cash (Stone, Conservative)
I beg to move amendment No. 57, in
clause 13, page 7, line 13, after 'Gibraltar', insert
'who shall be ordinarily resident in Gibraltar, following consultation with the Chief Minister of Gibraltar.'.
The amendment is pretty straightforward. The clause specifies that there must be
''a register of European Parliamentary electors in Gibraltar . . . maintained by the European electoral registration officer for Gibraltar.''
It continues:
''The Governor shall appoint a fit and proper person to be the European electoral registration officer for Gibraltar (and may at any time revoke such an appointment).''
The appointment
''must be published in the Gibraltar Gazette.''
We have already discussed some of the constitutional functions that the Governor performs and the Conservatives are not suggesting that he would not be the right person to appoint a fit and proper person to be the European electoral registration officer for Gibraltar. However, the person who is appointed should be ordinarily resident in Gibraltar. We should not just parachute in somebody from Whitehall to perform further supernumerary and directed activities. This is all part of the same problem—the straitjacket problem—that returns again and again in relation to the Bill.
It would be inconceivable to have an electoral registration officer who was not ordinarily resident in Gibraltar. It is not as if Gibraltar does not have elections; there are people who know how to do such things. Even if there were any doubts about how matters should be dealt with in relation to the complementarity between the electoral legal systems that we have discussed, we have ironed out all these matters in extensive discussions. It would be inconceivable to have a person who was not ordinarily resident in Gibraltar. The fact that the idea is not specifically excluded suggests that the Government are not saying that it would not be a person ordinarily resident in Gibraltar. However, the Conservatives think that such a person should definitely be selected. That is the balance of the argument.
The question is important to the Government of Gibraltar, so we also suggest that any appointment should follow
''consultation with the Chief Minister''.
The clause states that the Governor
''may at any time revoke such an appointment''.
I find that especially odd. It is offensive because it could give draconian power to the Governor. It is almost as if it were anticipated that the Gibraltarians will get up to constitutional mischief. They have already caused us a great deal of trouble with Spain and they could get into a situation such as the one we just heard about with regard to political donations, so we must ensure that they cannot raise questions in the normal fashion through Select Committee procedure. One way or another, they have all the potential of being thoroughly troublesome.
To put the icing on the cake, whoever will be made a fit and proper person to the be the European electoral registration officer—
Sitting suspended for a Division in the House.
On resuming—