Clause 7 - Encouraging voting
Regional Assemblies (Preparations) Bill
6:45 pm
Mr Philip Hammond (Runnymede and Weybridge, Conservative)
The Minister has taken the argument a step too far. In requiring the Electoral Commission to encourage participation in the election, the amendment simply recognises the logic of the fact that, if there is a threshold, abstaining will not be a neutral act, but could have an impact on the outcome. If the purpose of clauses 7 and 8 is to ensure that electors are well informed, and if there is a threshold requirement, it is essential that electors understand how the act of abstaining, as well as the act of voting
either way, will contribute to determining the outcome. It is an education process. I do not think that anybody in this Room would deny that if a threshold requirement is introduced, abstaining could have an effect on the outcome of the referendum. If it did not, the idea of a threshold would not have generated the heat that it has. If the purpose of these two clauses is the education of the electorate, it must be an education about all the effects and consequences of any course of action. If Parliament is minded to introduce a threshold, such consequences would flow from that.