Gould Report

Part of the debate – in the Scottish Parliament at 3:53 pm on 10 January 2008.

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Photo of David McLetchie David McLetchie Conservative 3:53, 10 January 2008

The average turnout percentages that were highlighted in one of the papers that I have read in that connection were 46 per cent pre-1999, and 54 per cent after. There is a gap, which I acknowledge, but we can try to address it. Thinking of voter education, if we moved to decoupling, we could have a much more focused campaign on how the system works and drive down the failure rate to a much more acceptable level. That is why decoupling is one of the Gould report's recommendations. I note, however, that it has taken the democratic calamity of May 2007 to reach that point of view. I was going to describe it as a democratic catastrophe, but as Nick Clegg is in town I changed my speech in his honour.

The decoupling policy has long been advocated by the Scottish Conservatives, and it was the subject of a member's bill in the previous session, introduced by my colleague, David Mundell. It found wide support across Scotland, although it cut no ice with the Scottish Executive at the time. Accordingly, we welcome the support that the present Government has given to the proposal, which we hope will be law before too long, to allow all those in local authorities who are affected to prepare for the next elections, on a date that they will know with some certainty. I support the amendment in the name of my colleague Annabel Goldie.