Schedule 1 — Substitution of Schedule 1 to the Scotland Act 1998

Part of Orders of the Day — Scottish Parliament (Constituencies) Bill – in the House of Commons at 8:00 pm on 4 May 2004.

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Photo of John Robertson John Robertson Labour, Glasgow Anniesland 8:00, 4 May 2004

I look at the time and see that I have plenty of it, but I do not intend to take up too much.

In relation to his comments about 1997 and 1998, I say to Mr. Salmond that hindsight is a wonderful thing, but I wonder how many of my colleagues would now not intervene to try to prevent what was proposed at the time. I agree, as he did with me on Second Reading, with his analysis on ballot papers. One ballot paper is sufficient for anybody. The voting system we might not agree on, but never mind.

This has been an excellent debate and, as usual, we have had a lot of fun. Unfortunately, the people we are here to talk about and represent probably do not care a jot about what we are discussing and what will happen at the end of it. They might eventually care, but at this moment they do not. Something that my right hon. Friend Mr. Wilson said of the commission fully fits practically everything that we are saying today. He said:

"To me, the commission sounds like a classic Sir Humphrey mechanism. One can imagine the discussion that took place: 'We are creating a shambles—what are we going to do? We'll set up a commission. When will the commission report? After the shambles has been created."—[Hansard, 9 February 2004; Vol. 417, c. 1182.]

That sums up exactly what we are talking about in relation to the system that we have in Scotland.

Mr. Duncan asked why we need to open up the Act. I have great sympathy with that question and we have been known to agree in the matter. This comes down to whether we are getting value for money. I am happy to accept 129 MSPs, and I am sure that the people of Scotland would be happy to accept that number if they felt that they were getting value for money. Sadly, I do not think that they are.

That came out in particular in the Scottish Affairs Committee when we took evidence on the subject, as neither the Convention of Scottish Local Authorities nor representatives of the Scottish Executive—I know that Mr. Weir will agree— had anything good to say about the list system. The jokes and the laughter about people crawling over constituencies are only too true.

Other than the annoyance caused to MPs and MSPs elected under first past the post, there is the cost to the nation. The cost, in Scotland in particular, is vast. Questions are asked in duplicate, triplicate and goodness knows what "iplicate" when we get to about 16 questions, which is a waste of time and money. It has to be addressed.