Committee (5th Day)

Part of Parliamentary Voting System and Constituencies Bill – in the House of Lords at 4:15 pm on 15 December 2010.

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Photo of Lord Howarth of Newport Lord Howarth of Newport Labour 4:15, 15 December 2010

Does not this whole debate point up very clearly the absurdity of holding the referendum on the same day as other elections? It will be completely impossible to police the distinction which the Government seek to make between coverage that is referendum-related and coverage that is election-related. What if a programme or an article discusses both those topics together? It cannot conceivably work. My noble friend Lord Snape reminded us of how perplexing and confusing voters found it in 1975 when they found politicians of different parties on different sides of the argument. If I remember rightly, that referendum was not held on the same day as other elections; but it still caused people to scratch their heads. It will be completely impossible to sort this out if the two processes are carried forward on the same day. Will not the Government now accept that?