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Lords Amendment: No. 12, in page 14, line 14, after "means" insert:
any bank holiday not included in the Christmas break or the Easter break and ".
§ Mr. Merlyn ReesI beg to move, That this House doth agree with the Lords in the said Amendment.
Perhaps it would be convenient to discuss at the same time Lords Amendments Nos. 13, 14, 15 and 21. The purpose of this series of Amendments is to prevent the timetable at General Elections from being held up for more than one day by reason of bank holidays peculiar to Scotland, other than New Year's Day, or to Northern Ireland.
§ Clause 18 amends the provisions of the existing law for the computation of time for election purposes by introducing in subsections (2), (3) and (4) the concept of a "Christmas break", "Easter break" and "bank holiday break". A "bank holiday break" will normally consist of three days; that is, the weekday before the bank holiday, the bank holiday itself and the weekday after the bank holiday.
§ This will work well for bank holidays in England and Wales, where bank holidays are, by custom and use, treated as general holidays. In Scotland, however—and, to a lesser degree, in Northern Ireland—bank holidays, other than New Year's Day in Scotland, tend to be little more than days on which the banks are closed. In so far as bank holidays in Scotland and Northern Ireland are common with those in England and Wales, this does not matter. But there are certain bank holidays peculiar to Scotland and Northern Ireland which are not common with those in England and Wales.
§ These are, in Scotland—or will be from 1971—the first Monday in May and the first Monday in August; and, in Northern Ireland, 17th March, St. Pat- 1852 rick's Day, and 12th July. It would be awkward if a General Election timetable in which one of these days fell had to be extended by three days throughout the United Kingdom instead of the one day which, particularly having regard to Scotland, is all that is necessary.
§ The Amendments to Clause 18 redefine a "bank holiday break" accordingly and the proviso inserted by Amendment No. 14 specifically applies the full bank holiday break only to New Year's Day and to bank holidays in England and Wales.
§ Amendment No. 21 is consequential on Amendments 12 to 15.
§ Question put and agreed to.
§ Subsequent Lords Amendments agreed to.
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Lords Amendment: No. 16, in page 14, line 39, at end insert:
( ) In relation to the period within which any local government election is to be held, and in relation to the day of election at any local government election, section 295 of the Local Government Act, 1933, shall have effect as if the days mentioned in section 295(1) included any day of the Christmas break, the Easter break or a bank holiday break within the meaning of rule 2 of the local elections rules as amended by subsection (3) above; and in section 295(2) (under which, if an election is postponed, the day on which it is held is to be treated as the day of election for all purposes of that Act) the reference to the purposes of that Act shall include the purposes of the Representation of the People Acts.
This subsection shall apply to elections of elective auditors as it applies to local government elections.
§ Mr. Merlyn ReesI beg to move, That this House doth agree with the Lords in the said Amendment.
This is a technical Amendment required to bring Section 295 of the Local Government Act, 1933, into line with the Representation of the People Acts, 1948 and 1949, as they have been amended by Clause 18 of the Representation of the People Bill. Section 295 of the 1933 Act deals with the computation of time for 1853 the purposes of that Act, including local government elections. The provisions of the 1948 and 1949 Acts, operated on by Clause 18 of the Bill, also deal with the computation of time for the purposes of elections, including local government elections. As a result of the Amendments made by Clause 18, Section 295 is now in conflict with the relevant provisions of the 1948 and 1949 Acts. The Amendment will resolve that conflict.
§ Question put and agreed to.