HC Deb 10 May 1956 vol 552 cc1541-4

10.15 p.m.

Mr. H. A. Price (Lewisham, West)

I beg to move, in page 4, line 22, at the end to insert: Provided also that in computing such period of thirty days as aforesaid the Saturday before and the Tuesday after Christmas Day shall also be disregarded in any particular year when Christmas Day falls on a Sunday. This is a very simple Amendment and will take me little longer to move it than it will my hon. Friend either to accept or reject it. There will be found at the end of Clause 6 a list of days which are to be excepted in calculating the 30 days required under the Clause. The list comprises a Sunday, Christmas Day, Good Friday, bank holiday or day appointed for public thanksgiving or mourning and the Saturday before and the Tuesday after Easter Day or Whit Sunday … The reason for excepting those days is obvious, but what is not obvious is why the list does not include the Saturday before or the Tuesday after Christmas Day when Christmas Day falls on a Sunday, as it does occasionally. On such an occasion the Saturday before is, of course, Christmas Eve, and any business of this nature is out of the question and almost invariably the Tuesday after is declared to be a public holiday and ought, therefore, to be included in the list of exceptions.

Mr. Robert Jenkins (Dulwich)

I beg formally to second the Amendment.

The Joint Under-Secretary of State for the Home Department (Mr. W. F. Deedes)

I can see what my hon. Friend the Member for Lewisham, West (Mr. H. A. Price) is trying to do but, if I may say so, I think that he has moved this Amendment under a misapprehension. Under the law the period within which an election for a casual vacancy must be held—30 days—includes Sundays and public holidays, whereas the period of notice of the election—20 or 22 days—excludes these days and may, therefore, in certain circumstances be almost as long as the period of 30 days.

It was with the object of avoiding the second period almost coinciding with the first and, therefore, not giving the necessary notice, that we included in the Bill alterations which were suggested originally, I think, by the Association of Municipal Corporations, and to exclude from the 30 days in which an election must be held the same days as are excluded from the 20 or 22 days which is the period of notice of the election.

That's exactly what the Clause does. In other words, it ensures that however many Sundays there may be in the month, whether Christmas Day is on a Sunday and whenever Easter may fall, there will always be a safe margin between the shorter and the longer period which makes the notice reasonable. All that my hon. Friend's Amendment would do would be to add two more days—the Saturday and the Tuesday after Christmas Day—not only to the 30 but to the shorter period of 20 or 22 as well. In other words, it would not alter the differential between the two periods. which is the object of the Clause.

Further, I may add that if these two days were excluded from the 30 days, as suggested by the Amendment, they ought logically to be excluded from the 20 or 22 days. This would involve further Amendments, which really, if the object of the Clause as now drafted is born in mind, frankly seem to us to be superfluous. In appreciating what he may not have appreciated before—that there is a sufficient differential in all circumstances between the shorter and the longer periody—I hope that my hon. Friend may feel able to withdraw his Amendment.

Mr. Price

Perhaps my hon. Friend would explain one point that still mystifies me. If it is necessary or advisable to exclude the Saturday before Whitsun and the Tuesday after, why does not the same argument apply to Christmas Day when that falls on a Sunday?

Mr. Deedes

The answer is that the first must invariably be on Sunday, and the second is a variable function. There is a difference between the two questions.

Mr. Price

My Amendment says: …when Christmas Day falls on a Sunday. In each case, the circumstances are exactly comparable.

Mr. Speaker

Does the hon. Member wish to withdraw his Amendment?

Mr. Price

No, Sir.

Amendment negatived.

Motion made, and Question proposed, That the Bill be now read the Third time.

10.23 p.m.

Mr. Kenneth Younger (Grimsby)

I should like the Joint Under-Secretary to clarify a point which was raised in Committee by my hon. Friend the Member for Sunderland, North (Mr. Willey). The object of the Bill, and particularly of Clause 1, is said to be the synchronisation of rural district and parish elections. My hon. Friend raised the question whether, under this Bill, they would be fully synchronised as regards hours of polling on a particular day. The Joint Under-Secretary said that his impression was that this would not be the effect of the Bill, but that he might be able to give an assurance at a later stage.

I have raised this point because it has been raised by persons interested in the conduct of elections, and it may be that there are places other than in this Bill where steps could be taken to make the times coincide. It seems to me that it would be desirable that the closing time of the poll should be the same in these circumstances for both elections. I should like an assurance from the Joint Under—Secretary that if he confirms his former opinion that it is not covered by the Bill, he will be willing to receive representations with a view to altering the rules to cover this point.

Mr. Deedes

I am grateful to the right hon. Gentleman for raising this point, which was raised also in Committee. I can clear it up. The reference in Clause 1, subsection (2), to the polls being taken together merely means that they are to be held on the same day, at the same polling stations, with the same ballot boxes, and so on, serving both. Rule 3 (1), of the schedule to each of these Rules, namely, the Rural District Council Election Rules, 1951, and the Parish Council Election Rules, 1952, provides that the poll shall start at an hour fixed by the county council, and finish at 8 p.m., unless extended to 9 p.m., at the wish of the candidates. Unless and until the Rules are altered, it is at any rate theoreticaly possible for a county council to fix different hours for the opening of the rural and parish polls respectively, and for the candidates concerned to enforce different hours at the end of the poll, even though the polls are otherwise held simultaneously. That is in accordance with the Rules as they now stand.

I should perhaps add that no suggestion has reached us as yet for amending those Rules, so it may be presumed that, in practice, no difficulties arise. We will, however, review the position in view of the fact that the Bill will now provide for rural and parish elections to be held together. As the matter now stands, I am under the impression that no inconvenience is likely to arise, but I appreciate the suggestion of the right hon. Gentleman that it should be reviewed as the result of the coming into effect of the Bill.