Contributions
895 recent contributions in Hansard
HANSARDParliamentary Constituencies Bill (Sixth sitting)The Opposition welcome clause 5. We have argued to keep the number of MPs at 650. I also welcome the Minister’s explanation of why the Government have U-turned and returned to the…25 Jun 2020HANSARDParliamentary Constituencies Bill (Sixth sitting)Speaking to amendment 10, the hon. Member for Glasgow East made a very good point about the way in which the Bill must be able to be applied effectively in every part of the…25 Jun 2020HANSARDParliamentary Constituencies Bill (Sixth sitting)It is lovely to see you in the Chair on this warm afternoon, Sir David. My amendments to clause 1 ask the Committee whether Parliament should vote on the review of the boundaries.…25 Jun 2020HANSARDParliamentary Constituencies Bill (Fifth sitting)I shall start by putting on the record the Labour party’s support for the boundary review. We do not seek to cause any difficulty with the passage of the Bill. Our amendments and…25 Jun 2020HANSARDParliamentary Constituencies Bill (Fifth sitting)I beg to move amendment 2, in clause 1, page 1, line 5, leave out subsection (2). This is a paving amendment for Amendment 5, with the aim of maintaining the status quo of…25 Jun 2020HANSARDParliamentary Constituencies bill (Fourth sitting)Q Thank you for giving evidence, Gavin. Do you feel that a commitment to protecting the 18 seats in Northern Ireland without a similar protection for Scotland and Wales…23 Jun 2020HANSARDParliamentary Constituencies bill (Fourth sitting)Q Mr Hughes, thank you for giving evidence to the Committee this afternoon. Do you feel that the balance is right between community ties and the 5% tolerance in the Bill? Darren…23 Jun 2020HANSARDParliamentary Constituencies bill (Fourth sitting)Q I think you would argue that the local government boundary reviews are done in a robust and fair way. That obviously decides the electoral wards for local government, but it is…23 Jun 2020HANSARDParliamentary Constituencies bill (Fourth sitting)Q Andrew, the Local Government Boundary Commission for England presents its report to Parliament under the negative procedure. That strikes a balance between the independence of…23 Jun 2020HANSARDParliamentary Constituencies bill (Fourth sitting)Q On registers and their accuracy and completeness, we know that no electoral register is either 100% accurate or 100% complete. Obviously, there is a discrepancy between the…23 Jun 2020HANSARDParliamentary Constituencies bill (Third sitting)Q I will direct a question to Professor McLean, who I hope now has the right Bill in front of him. Back in 2010, Professor, you wrote an article for The Guardian about the…23 Jun 2020HANSARDParliamentary Constituencies bill (Third sitting)Q For the purpose of drawing boundaries, where it is most important that there be as much accuracy as possible, would combining other sources of information be a way of improving…23 Jun 2020HANSARDParliamentary Constituencies bill (Third sitting)Q I direct my question to Professor Sir John Curtice. I would like to ask about the mathematical accuracy of the boundaries that we are drawing up. Obviously, I do not think…23 Jun 2020HANSARDParliamentary Constituencies bill (Third sitting)Q Mr Williams, thank you for coming to give evidence before the Committee. To push you slightly further on something you have already alluded to, what are your views on the very…23 Jun 2020HANSARDParliamentary Constituencies bill (Third sitting)Q Thank you so much, Professor Hazell and Dr Renwick, for giving evidence to the Committee this morning. I want to thank you for your blogpost on 5 June, which was in response to…23 Jun 2020HANSARDParliamentary Constituencies bill (Fourth sitting)Q If this boundary review were to throw up some significant boundary changes—which would not be unexpected, given that, certainly in England, the data from the last review was…23 Jun 2020HANSARDParliamentary Constituencies bill (Fourth sitting)Q Finally, are there any other opportunities to strengthen or improve the Bill in Committee? Professor Pattie: One of the areas that I was quite pleased to see in the Bill was a…23 Jun 2020HANSARDParliamentary Constituencies bill (Fourth sitting)Q Dr Rossiter, I hope I am not putting words in your mouth, but would a way to solve that involve some level of tolerance over the total number of constituencies that need to be…23 Jun 2020HANSARDParliamentary Constituencies bill (Fourth sitting)Q Dr Rossiter, do you have anything to add? Dr Rossiter: Yes. I am afraid that it is probably a rather technical point, but it is quite important, in terms of the effect that the…23 Jun 2020HANSARDParliamentary Constituencies bill (Fourth sitting)Q I would like to start by passing on my condolences to you both after the unexpected death of your colleague Ron Johnston. There is an argument to be had about where the balance…23 Jun 2020