Government Referendum Leaflet

Andrea Jenkyns Excerpts

Monday 11th April 2016 Commons Chamber

[Mr Lidington]

No, I do not. The fact that the remain and leave campaigns will both be able to circulate their material and communicate as they think fit in the last 28 days of the campaign, when the Government are restricted in what they can say, will enable both sides of the argument to be put to the electorate fairly.

[Andrea Jenkyns (Morley and Outwood) (Con)]

We held the referendum on the AV voting system in 2011. Will my right hon. Friend confirm whether £9 million was spent at that time? That was a referendum that could have changed the political make-up of our country for generations to come by changing the whole voting system.

[Mr Lidington]

There is a crucial difference between the two. In 2011, we were part of a coalition Government. The two coalition parties took opposite views on the preferred outcome of that referendum, so there was no agreement on what the Government’s collective message should be. This time around, the Government have a very clear collective view, which is that we should remain in a reformed European Union, and the way that we communicate in the literature that we are distributing reflects that fact.