Clause 7 - Encouraging Voting
Regional Assemblies (Preparations) Bill
10:45 am
Mr Philip Hammond (Runnymede and Weybridge, Conservative)
I am perfectly prepared to address the Under-Secretary's contention that the amendment is superfluous, but to claim that the amendment is flawed and then to shelter behind the claim that he is acting on advice that he received, rather than explaining why it is flawed, is unsatisfactory. The amendment merely requires the Electoral Commission to certify that ''in the Commission's judgment'' its actions do not disproportionately benefit one of the possible outcomes. That is not impossible. I hope that the commission exercises careful judgment in relation to anything that it does; if so, it will be in a position to certify what the amendment requires.
Without referring the Committee to any particular provision in the Political Parties, Elections and Referendums Act 2000, the Under-Secretary said that the duty ''already exists''. I would like to know precisely what the Under-Secretary had in mind so that I can judge whether that is so.
Nobody in the Room doubts that the Electoral Commission will go about its business without any intention of bias. The amendment does not address intentional bias; it addresses the unintended consequences of addressing a group or groups—perhaps groups with particular disabilities, for example—that may be more or less inclined to vote one way or the other. I have no reason to suppose that the majority of partially sighted people in any region will be more or less disposed to one side of the argument. However, if there were a group among whom it was obvious, from the available evidence, that there was a strong feeling one way or the other, the Electoral Commission would have to approach with care the way in which it presented or reinterpreted the issues to members of that group.
The Under-Secretary did not touch at all on communications media. As Members of Parliament, we all have to wrestle with the uneven distribution of access to electronic communications media. When a constituent sends one of us an e-mail, he often expects to get an answer pretty much straight away because he has communicated in that way. Equally, given that he has access to electronic mail, he is unlikely to be among the most needy and disadvantaged of our constituents.
I do not know what other hon. Members do, but I always print out my e-mails from constituents, put them in the pile with the faxes and letters and treat them in exact rotation. To do otherwise would be to
discriminate unfairly and unreasonably against constituents who do not have access to electronic communications media. That is an important point when we consider how to encourage voting, as we shall see when we reach clause 8, which deals with the dissemination of information. I should have liked to hear Government support for sending a clear signal to the Electoral Commission that it must, in going about the duty that the clause imposes on it, exercise extreme caution to ensure that the commission does so in a way that is clearly balanced, does not introduce any unintended bias and is beyond reproach, thus reinforcing the credibility and reputation of the commission, not inadvertently undermining it.
I take on board the Under-Secretary's interpretation of the impact of amendment No. 7, although I do not agree with everything that he said. It seems that he has no objection to the principle of the amendment—that actions taken by the Electoral Commission should not bias the outcome, or be seen to bias the outcome, in any way—but he does not think that the amendment would achieve that and that it is therefore unnecessary. We shall go back to the drawing board to try to draft an amendment that attempts to achieve the same objective, but without introducing what, to my surprise, the Under-Secretary seems to believe is controversial content. I hope that the underlying principle of the amendment is in no way controversial and that we will receive a welcome from the Government if we table an alternative at a later stage. I beg to ask leave to withdraw the amendment.
Amendment, by leave, withdrawn.