Alternative Vote Referendum Date

Part of the debate – in the Scottish Parliament at 3:23 pm on 18 November 2010.

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Photo of Pauline McNeill Pauline McNeill Labour 3:23, 18 November 2010

Now I am concerned that Mike Rumbles, as a Scottish Liberal Democrat, does not think that the Scottish Parliament is the right place to discuss the Scottish elections. Shame on him.

It is interesting that the amendments in the names of Mike Rumbles and David McLetchie say nothing about consultation. The Scottish Government should register a formal dispute through the joint ministerial committee, because the matter is serious—Labour is taking it seriously. I ask the Liberal Democrats whether, if we vote tonight to reject the clash of election dates, they will respect that.

Michael Moore has written to the Presiding Officer to offer to give the Parliament the right to move the Scottish election date by six months either way. It is ironic that that is proposed to be provided for in the Fixed-term Parliaments Bill, because our moving our elections by six months—the implication is that that would be six months earlier or later than a UK election—would mean that our term was not fixed.