Clause 5 - Referendums: frequency
Regional Assemblies (Preparations) Bill
12:45 pm
Mr Philip Hammond (Runnymede and Weybridge, Conservative)
Thank you for that guidance, Mr. Butterfill.
Clause 5 is rather curious. The first two subsections deal with the issue of repeat referendums and the third deals with what—to the legally untrained mind—seems to be an interesting but completely separate issue. Following the previous debate, if we now address subsection (3), we will have exhaustively dealt with the entire content of clause 5.
We linked amendment No. 3 to amendments Nos. 4 and 5, which relate to clause 10. That clause proposed to rule out recourse to the courts in relation to any challenge to the outcome of a referendum decision. Amendment No. 3 would qualify subsection (3) by making it clear that the determining decision of the chief counting officer would be subject to any finding of a court of competent jurisdiction. Amendments Nos. 4 and 5 would bluntly change the meaning of clause 10 from providing that courts shall be excluded to providing that courts shall be included provided that matters are brought to their attention in a timely fashion. It is important in the context of a referendum that issues are raised within a short time; we have suggested 10 days from the date of the referendum.
There is something slightly repugnant about the idea that the courts are excluded from any jurisdiction
in something as important as the counting of votes or the declaration of a result of a referendum, and about the idea that a citizen of this country should be precluded by statute from accessing the courts. I am not a lawyer, but as our constitutional arrangements evolve, I wonder how that position stands up to the provisions of the European convention on human rights. I notice that there is a certificate by the Secretary of State on the cover of the Bill, saying that its provisions are compatible with convention rights. If any provision in the Bill begs the question of how it is compatible with convention rights, clause 10 is such a provision.
I do not want to bore you, Mr. Butterfill, because I think that you might have heard this anecdote before, but I shall tell it to the Minister. A lecturer who is a card-carrying member of the Labour party lives in my constituency.