Clause 5 - Referendums: frequency
Regional Assemblies (Preparations) Bill
11:00 am
Mr Philip Hammond (Runnymede and Weybridge, Conservative)
I listened with interest to the remarks about the amendments of the hon. Member for Kingston and Surbiton (Mr. Davey). If I were the Liberal Democrat spokesman, I would be cautious about talking about mutually contradictory amendments: at least I have expressed the intention of tabling them, whereas I suspect that the Liberal Democrats might, in their usual way, table them inadvertently.
I listened to the hon. Gentleman's speech on Second Reading. He warned the Government that he would table many amendments. So far, there have only been three of them. [Hon. Members: ''Four.''] We wait with bated breath for more of them.
Amendment No. 1 is the type of amendment that I referred to earlier: it is dependent upon other amendments that will not be substantively debated in this place. It seeks to excise subsections (1) and (2) from clause 5, which would mean that the clause dealt only with the jurisdiction and responsibility of the chief counting officer. It would not make any sense for that to stand on its own.
Amendment No. 1 is intended to be consequential on amendment No. 13: that is its number in the list of amendments that are to be considered on the Floor of the House. That list's order of numbering is different from the list of amendments that are to be considered by the Committee. One of the technical difficulties facing us is that those amendments are not available in the Committee Room today; I believe that that is the case.
Amendment No. 13 seeks to write a provision into clause 1, the result of which would be that once a referendum had been held in a region, the matter would be settled, and a further referendum could not be held. Other amendments that we have tabled to clause 1 propose that there should be a single England-wide referendum to establish the strength of favourable sentiment for elected regional assemblies in the entire country: I have explained that to put the matter in context. That does not imply that there must be a single decision about regional assemblies that applies to every region.