Draft European Parliamentary Elections Act 2002 (Amendment) Regulations 2018 Draft European Parliamentary Elections (Amendment) Regulations 2018

Cat Smith Excerpts

Tuesday 23rd January 2018 General Committees

[Cat Smith (Lancaster and Fleetwood) (Lab)]

It is a pleasure to serve under your chairmanship, Mrs Moon. I welcome the Minister to her post. We share not only a first initial and a surname, but now a policy brief. I am sure there will be no confusion whatever.

As the Minister said, the regulations allow for vacant seats in the European Parliament to be filled by the sitting party’s nomination, or in the case of independent parties, substitution. That is what we are discussing. The purpose of the regulations is to reduce the likelihood of a by-election in the run-up to 2019. As we prepare to leave the EU, our country needs certainty and stability, not confusion and chaos. A European Parliament by-election between now and our departure from the EU is certainly not in the interest of the public purse.

While we do not oppose the adoption of the regulations, given the huge cost of an EU by-election and the fact that we are leaving the EU, there are some points that I would like to place on record. My concern is that the proposals give far too much power to political party machines, further adding to our country’s democratic deficit. That will allow party leaders to nominate whoever they want, overlooking the confidence of the people and the list of names that was placed before the people at the last election to take place in this country.

I do not want to comment too much on private party matters. The fiasco concerning the replacement of two Conservative MEPs in the north-east, which went public last summer and during which the candidate next on the nomination list was overlooked, shows that the Conservative party is expert in this regard. Does this perhaps explain why the Government are so keen to introduce the regulations—to save further embarrassment later? Unlike the Conservative party, the Opposition are truly democratic and we recognise the huge contribution of our many Labour party members—of course, we do not know how many Conservative party members there are—in the decision making of our party.

The proposals are also timely, given what we all suspect is the imminent or possible collapse of UKIP. I am sure the Minister will be aware that MEPs elected under a particular party label have left the party to become independents in the last few days. If such a person subsequently resigns as an MEP, what is the position? Does the replacement come from the party under whose banner the first person was elected? I would like to hear the Minister’s comments on that.

Those are a few of my concerns regarding the proposals, but, as I have said, the Opposition will not oppose the regulations, given the huge cost of an EU by-election and the fact that we will be leaving the EU.