Clause 13
Political Parties and Elections Bill
11:15 am
Eleanor Laing (Shadow Minister, Justice; Epping Forest, Conservative)
I thank the hon. Gentleman for that explanation. I remember vividly the debate that we had in the Chamber about coterminosity. Members of the Committee who have never paid any attention to the workings of the Scottish Parliament or Scottish electoral issues will wonder what on earth I am talking about. Opposition Members warned that creating boundaries that are not coterminous would cause confusion at election times. At that point, we were talking about the non-coterminosity—it is getting worse. [Interruption.] The lack of terminosity, if the hon. Gentleman accepts that term, between Westminster constituencies and Scottish parliamentary constituencies is bound to lead to some confusion.
According to the hon. Gentleman—he is absolutely right—the lack of terminosity between the European boundaries and the local authority boundaries, which is, to some extent, inevitable, is causing a problem. I accept that and I accept that the problem should be put right. However, the Electoral Commission has concerns, as the hon. Gentleman has also expressed, about the possibility of this part of the Bill coming into effect a very short time before the forthcoming European elections. I share that concern and I therefore wish to express it on behalf of Opposition Members. I am sure that the Minister will have an answer to that, so I shall allow him to give us that answer.