Contributions
321 recent contributions in Hansard
HANSARDWestferry Printworks DevelopmentFirst, I thank the Opposition for using one of their days to give Conservative Members a chance to talk about the Government’s excellent work on housing in the past 10 years.…24 Jun 2020HANSARDParliamentary Constituencies bill (Fourth sitting)Q I have one quick follow-up. Assuming that we stay with the current system, which will be the case, would you not accept that having more equalised electorates is fairer to the…23 Jun 2020HANSARDParliamentary Constituencies bill (Third sitting)Q But that is at the expense of taking seats from Wales. Chris Williams: Unfortunately, yes. I dare say that England as a whole will not necessarily feel a huge benefit from about…23 Jun 2020HANSARDParliamentary Constituencies bill (Third sitting)Q On the same theme, Wales has roughly the same sized electorate as Greater Manchester, where I am an MP, but we have 27 MPs and Wales has 40, which means that their average…23 Jun 2020HANSARDParliamentary Constituencies bill (Third sitting)Q So you accept that there has to be a reduction? Chris Williams: Yes, unfortunately, but I think that we need to consider the Ynys Môn example. Giving the commission the…23 Jun 2020HANSARDParliamentary Constituencies bill (Third sitting)Q What would you say to those in Greater Manchester who feel hard done by, being under-represented at the moment? Chris Williams: I would agree with them.23 Jun 2020HANSARDParliamentary Constituencies bill (Third sitting)It is fine, Chair. My question is far too long for the time we have left.23 Jun 2020HANSARDParliamentary Constituencies bill (Fourth sitting)Q Peter, the Bill allows you to consider ward changes that have not necessarily come into effect yet. For example, in Salford, where I used to be a councillor, there has been a…23 Jun 2020HANSARDParliamentary Constituencies bill (Fourth sitting)Q If there were a situation where you could draw more coherency from the old set of boundaries, would you ever use a mix and match approach? Using the example of Salford again,…23 Jun 2020HANSARDParliamentary Constituencies bill (Fourth sitting)Q Is it fair to say that an element of the disruptive change that will be an inevitable part of this review will be down to the fact that local electoral geography has changed…23 Jun 2020HANSARDParliamentary Constituencies bill (Fourth sitting)Q I should put it on the record that I am a member of the Electoral Reform Society. I wanted that to be out there. I want to pick up on a couple of points that have been raised.…23 Jun 2020HANSARDParliamentary Constituencies bill (Fourth sitting)Q In your experience, do you think that has compromised the quality of the representation those Members of Parliament give? Darren Hughes: Well, they have to work incredibly hard,…23 Jun 2020HANSARDParliamentary Constituencies bill (Fourth sitting)Q I know the ERS’s preferred system would be the single transferable vote. Were such a system to be adopted—for example, the hon. Member for Glasgow East mentioned the slightly…23 Jun 2020HANSARDParliamentary Constituencies bill (Fourth sitting)Q Setting aside what we would prefer the system to be, do you agree that, for the current system, more equalised electorates would be fairer? Darren Hughes: Yes, provided that we…23 Jun 2020HANSARDParliamentary Constituencies bill (Fourth sitting)Q This is for both our witnesses, but I will start with Dr Rossiter. Do you agree that reaching electoral equality is important not just between regions but within regions? I will…23 Jun 2020HANSARDParliamentary Constituencies bill (Fourth sitting)Q To take that thread, if we are not being too precious about communities, why is a 7% or 8% variance better than a 5% variance? Surely it is better to get closer to the mean.…23 Jun 2020HANSARDParliamentary Constituencies bill (Fourth sitting)Q Less disruption is less work for the Boundary Commissions, rather than electoral equality. Professor Pattie: Well, you still have equalisation and a fairly tight parameter in…23 Jun 2020HANSARDParliamentary Constituencies bill (Fourth sitting)Q I take the academic point, Professor Pattie, but I think it would be quite a hard sell on the doorsteps to tell some of my constituents that 20,000 extra voters are required…23 Jun 2020HANSARDParliamentary Constituencies bill (Fourth sitting)But it is at the moment.23 Jun 2020HANSARDParliamentary Constituencies bill (First sitting)Q My points dovetail nicely with my colleague’s questions. We have been talking quite a bit about the necessity, or desirability, of ward splitting in England. Obviously, it is a…18 Jun 2020