Clause 5 - Referendums: frequency
Regional Assemblies (Preparations) Bill
11:30 am
Mr Philip Hammond (Runnymede and Weybridge, Conservative)
Without going into detail, the hon. Gentleman is making an obvious mistake. If there were a threshold, an abstention would become relevant, and could be an active determinant of the outcome. We have not abandoned the concept of thresholds—we will come back to it in relation to part 1—but I felt that it would be difficult to put across such a concept in relation to clause 5 unless it could be seen to run through the Bill. We have some difficulties because of the structure of the Committee.