Clause 8 - Provision of information to voters
Regional Assemblies (Preparations) Bill
12:00 pm
Mr Gary Streeter (South West Devon, Conservative)
I hope to make a brief contribution, consistent with a point that I made in Committee last week. One of the important things about any Act of Parliament is that it gives clarity and certainty. At the beginning, clause 8 appears to give clarity and certainty about the time scales in which the Electoral Commission can designate an organisation under the 2000 Act to be funded to take forward the yes or no campaign. Then, as my hon. Friend the Member for Runnymede and Weybridge said so powerfully, one reads subsection (4), which refers to section 109(6) of the 2000 Act. The time scales in clause 8(2) and particularly (3) appear to be clear, but subsection (4) refers us to another Act of Parliament. One might assume that section 109(6) of the 2000 Act sets out a
limited range of circumstances in which a Minister may make an order, and that they will probably be clearly defined and closely controlled. However, this is the sort of smoke-and-mirrors operation that we have come to associate with this Government.
Section 109(6) of the 2000 Act states:
''The Secretary of State may, in the case of any referendum to which this Part applies, by order provide for this section to have effect as if each, or either, of the periods of 28 and 14 days referred to in subsections (2) and (3) was instead such shorter or longer period as is specified in the order.''
That is enough to make anyone give up. It is saying that the Secretary of State can by order change the dates that are set out in the Bill and substitute any other date that he chooses; that might create a shorter or longer period.