New Clause 1 - Electorate per constituency

Part of Parliamentary Constituencies Bill – in the House of Commons at 4:45 pm on 14 July 2020.

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Photo of Shaun Bailey Shaun Bailey Conservative, West Bromwich West 4:45, 14 July 2020

Before I begin, on Black Country Day, I want to pay tribute to the Black Country chartists and suffragettes in Wednesbury and Tipton who fought for us to be here under one member, one vote and ensure that our constituents could be represented.

I fear that I may repeat many of the arguments that had been made eloquently today. It is great to follow Gavin Robinson, who gave enlightening and interesting evidence to the Bill Committee. I would like to thank all members of the Bill Committee. It was my first Bill Committee, and what a Bill Committee to be on. As my hon. Friend Chris Clarkson put it, it allowed me to utilise my psephological exuberance, which is a fantastic phrase that I will try to make sure I get into conversations from now on.

I want to touch on three main points. The first is on automaticity—a word that I have finally learned to say without tongue-twisting. As my right hon. Friend Mrs Miller said in Committee, at the moment we are in a situation where we mark our own homework; there is no doubt about that. I do not understand how we can reconcile that. I repeat what I said on Second Reading: what is being proposed is an independent, judiciary-led commission. I have trust and faith in our judiciary. I am a lawyer—that is bred into me. Unless someone wants to take me to school on this, my understanding of our constitutional structure is that this place sets the laws, and the judiciary help to interpret them, so I do not understand where this fear of what is business as usual comes from.

My hon. Friend Mike Wood articulated the point eloquently, as did my neighbour, John Spellar, about the Boundary Commission’s Selly Oak proposal. The independent commission took evidence from the community, after which it made the decision that the proposal was not acceptable. We talk about this as if, once we get the initial recommendations, that is it—game over. It is not like that at all. Those who have been through the experience of a boundary change know full well that it is not like that, so I struggle to accept that argument from the Opposition.

When we talk about a 7.5% threshold, it is not actually 7.5%—it is 15%. Let us be honest about that. The Venice Commission report, which Opposition Members have quoted freely, states clearly that that 15% threshold is for exceptional circumstances.

The semantics of that report were quite clear. It effectively advised to steer well clear of going anywhere near that, and actually went so far as to suggest that we should keep that threshold as minimal as possible to ensure certainty, fairness and parity among constituencies. I do not accept Opposition Members’ interpretation of that report.

I do have sympathy, particularly with Ben Lake, who has the honour of representing the town in which I went to university. It was great in Committee to go down memory lane, talking about places such as Llanbadarn, Llanbedr Pont Steffan, Pont-Siân and Aberystwyth, of course—the prime town in Wales. What I would say to him is that our constitutional settlement has changed. It was a point I raised in Committee, in that I think voters—electors—are sophisticated now. They understand the difference between a Member of Parliament and an Aelod o’r Senedd or Member of the Senedd. Electors understand the difference between their local authority and their devolved authority, and the fact is that our constitution is going through a period of change naturally. As a result, we have a scenario of 60 Members of the Senedd and 40 Members of Parliament. Effectively, we have a scenario of 100 elected representatives on that sort of threshold level. I understand what the hon. Gentleman is trying to say in geographic and cultural terms, particularly as self-taught Welsh speaker. I have sympathy with the cultural and language element, but constitutionally the numbers do not really help the argument.

In conclusion, I support the Bill and I oppose the amendments. We have to trust our judiciary and the Boundary Commission. We have to trust the fact that this is business as usual when it comes to how we make legislation, how we pass laws and I commend the Bill to the House.