(Lab
Co-op):...Since 1997, Governments have introduced a
variety of voting systems into elections in the United Kingdom. We
have a closed list system for the election of Members to the
European Parliament; the supplementary vote system for the election
of mayors and Police
and Crime Commissioners; and additional member
closed list systems to introduce an element of proportionality into
the election of the London Assembly, Scottish Parliament and Welsh
Assembly. As has been said, the Labour/Liberal Democrat coalition
Government in the second Scottish Parliament introduced
proportional representation for local government in Scotland. The
noble Lord, , referred to the fact that
we have proportional representation for local government elections
in Northern Ireland...
...I am aware that the Conservative party made a commitment
in its manifesto to replace the supplementary vote system used for
mayors and Police
and Crime Commissioners with the first past the
post system. My own party’s manifesto at the general election was
silent on the issue of voting systems, but there was a commitment
to establish a constitutional convention—that would certainly have
looked at the question of devolution in England outside London and
where power is held and used at the present time. If there were to
be changes to structures, consideration would have been given to
the system of election used at different tiers of government...
(Con):...Our debate today has been underpinned by a
desire to ensure popular engagement with this important local
democratic process and to protect the transparency and integrity of
our electoral system at local level—principles which all who have
spoken would support. This is clear across all parties: successive
Labour and Conservative Administrations have introduced directly
elected mayors for some local authorities and the combined
authorities taking on the most significant devolved powers, as well
as directly elected Police
and Crime
Commissioners....
...My noble friend was somewhat dismissive
about manifestos, but I have to remind him that my—and
his—party’s manifesto commits us to,
“retain the first past the post system of voting for
parliamentary elections and extend this system to police and
crime commissioner and mayoral elections”.
In his remarks, the noble Lord, Lord Kennedy, said that he wanted
to reduce the number of different systems. That is exactly what
my party’s election manifesto does: it proposes moving back to
first past the post as the system for the elections to which I
have just referred.
To return to my noble friend ’s speech, far from moving
towards the system advocated by his Bill, subject to local
referendum, there is the clear commitment in the party’s
manifesto to move in the opposite direction, which means it is
difficult for us to support this particular piece of
legislation.
We want to ensure that the laws governing our local elections can
be understood and applied with confidence. Under first past the
post, electors select their preferred candidate or candidates for
their ward, the system is well understood by the electorate and
it is straightforward for electoral administrators to deliver
election results accurately and quickly....
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