Clause 13
Political Parties and Elections Bill
11:15 am
Alan Reid (Shadow Minister, Scottish and Northern Ireland Affairs; Argyll and Bute, Liberal Democrat)
I welcome you to the Chair, Sir Nicholas. I support clause 13. It will make for a more streamlined administration if the European elections are run by local authority returning officers. If those elections were run under parliamentary boundaries, the returning officers would be operating outwith the area or the council in which they are senior officer. The proposals make sense and it will make for a streamlined administration if the elections are run based on local authority boundaries. However, I want to raise a concern in relation to Scotland and Wales. I understand that this year, the clause will impact in Scotland and Wales only. As a result of the order that has already been passed to change the council elections in England to the same day as the European election, council returning officers will run the European elections in England. In Scotland and Wales, however, the present rules state that the returning officers for parliamentary constituencies run the elections.
The Electoral Commission has expressed concern that, as the Bill may not receive Royal Assent until March, the change will happen within only two or three months of polling day. The commission has always expressed the view that changes in legislation that affect elections should be put in place at least six months before the election date. Returning officers in Scotland and Wales have also expressed concern that if the change was to come into effect in March there might not be enough time, because preparations for the European elections will already have started.
I want to ask the Minister what his intentions are for bringing the clause into effect. Will he take the advice of the Electoral Commission and electoral administrators in Scotland and Wales, and not bring the clause into effect for Scotland and Wales until after this year’s European elections?