Clause 3 - Pilot schemes under the 2000 Act
European Parliamentary and Local Elections (Pilots) Bill
11:15 am
Ms Annette Brooke (Mid Dorset and North Poole, Liberal Democrat)
We seek to delete the clause, because it is a retrograde step to permit something in only one circumstance. Local authorities that have had successful schemes are finding it difficult to make plans. How will they move forward? There will be a great deal of disappointment. People are less likely to want to vote if they have participated in successful all-postal schemes and suddenly no longer have them. They will ask many questions, and the electorate will find it difficult to understand why they cannot have something that they had last year.
The clause is a retrograde step. These pilot schemes have been appropriate for the authority to which the election applies, unlike the pilot schemes for the European elections.