Clause 6 - Combination of polls
Regional Assemblies (Preparations) Bill
5:00 pm
Mr Philip Hammond (Runnymede and Weybridge, Conservative)
The hon. Gentleman brings us neatly back to our debate on the need for access to the courts. If he were a Government Whip, I would certainly not trust the outcome. It is, of course, an absurd example. I understand why Ministers do not want to bind themselves to any particular hurdle threshold level, but a certain level of turnout is essential to provide legitimacy to the process. When I pressed him earlier to be explicit, the Minister said that he did not know exactly what the level was. We shall doubtless return to the issue when we debate clause 1. If turnout level is to be viewed as a validator of the original ministerial decision to conduct a referendum—as, I believe, it must—we should not distort the turnout by holding the ballot simultaneously with another ballot that could typically be expected to achieve a much higher turnout. That would send a distorted message to the
Minister and upset his finely tuned antennae when he makes his decision.