Parliamentary Voting System and Constituencies Bill

Lord Judd Excerpts

Thursday 20th January 2011 Lords Chamber

I shall deal, finally, with the amendment of my noble friend Lord Foulkes of Cumnock, which says that there should be five constituencies in Edinburgh. I declare an interest—I was born and brought up in Edinburgh. I can think of no place that is more deserving of five constituencies, whatever the population of Edinburgh, than Edinburgh, so I particularly support that amendment.

[Lord Judd]

Does my noble friend agree that once again, as we consider these amendments, we see that the Bill is strategically flawed? The British public, the electorate of the whole United Kingdom, have not seen the case for the change, let alone the details proposed for the change. In a democracy that was really sound, there would be an opportunity for an expression of opinion by the electorate of the whole United Kingdom on what was being proposed. If we are taking upon ourselves the responsibility for making the change, it is more important than ever that all the rationale for what is being done is absolutely explicable and spelled out. What I fear is that, at a time when public confidence in the political system is at a pretty low ebb, this will again be seen as arrogance on the part of a closed political community in Westminster.

[Lord Falconer of Thoroton]

I agree with every word of that. The detailed point is that, if you were minded to have exceptions, surely the starting point would have been a public consultation in which people who thought that their area was entitled to special favours could have put their arguments, which could then at least have been seen by the public. However, because this Bill has had no public consultation and no pre-legislative scrutiny, that opportunity has not existed.