Clause 5 - Referendums: frequency
Regional Assemblies (Preparations) Bill
4:30 pm
Mr Christopher Leslie (Parliamentary Secretary, Cabinet Office; Shipley, Labour)
Thank you, Mr. Benton. I also welcome you to the Chair of the Committee. Although we hope to dispatch business effectively, we will look to your solid and wise guidance on procedural matters at all times.
We are debating amendments Nos. 3, 4 and 5. I will try to answer the questions raised so far. Given my lack of specific legal training, I will make my answers as simple as possible, not least for my own understanding.
As clause 5 states, certification by the chief counting officer, which is made under section 128 of the Political
Parties, Elections and Referendums Act, will identify the result of the referendum. The chief counting officer will
''certify
(a) the total number of ballot papers counted, and
(b) the total number of votes cast''.
If they were taken in isolation, amendments Nos. 4 and 5 would each negate the meaning and intent of clause 10. I presume, however, that the hon. Member for Runnymede and Weybridge (Mr. Hammond) intends amendments Nos. 4 and 5 to be consequential on each other. He presumably means that courts should entertain proceedings only if
''a claim is brought within 10 days of the date of the referendum''.
The Government believe that the argument for a 10-day window of opportunity is flawed. It would allow frivolous challenges to pour in, be lodged and clog up the process, which could mean that the referendum result could not be finalised. That would be an undesirable frustration of the will of the people who expressed their wishes in the referendum.
The purpose of our approach is clearly to ensure that legal challenges to the referendum result are prevented. To place the debate in the context of clause 10, we are ensuring that
''No court shall entertain any proceedings for questioning''
the certification by the chief counting officer.