§ RETURNING OFFICERS AT LOCAL GOVERNMENT ELECTIONS
§ Mr. OakesI beg to move Amendment No. 230, in page 21, leave out lines 31 to 37 and insert: (1) The returning officer at an election of a councillor of a County Council shall be an officer of the district council which includes the electoral area for which the election is held. If an electoral area is contained partly in one and partly in another district, the proper officer of the county council shall designate an officer of one of these districts as returning officer.
(2) Every district council shall appoint an officer of the council to be the returning officer for the elections of councillors of the district and an officer of the council to be the return- 132 ing officer for elections of councillors of parishes or communities within the district..
This Amendment deals, not with registration officers, but with returning officers. It seeks to apply the principle which was applied to London by the London Government Act, 1963,namely that an officer of the district council shall be the returning officer for all county council elections.
We have tabled the Amendment because this arrangement is very sensible and it has to worked very well in London since 1963. In practice, many county returning officers have delegated their powers and duties to an acting returning officer who obviously has a much more intimate knowledge of the area with which he is dealing.
§ 8.0 p.m.
§ The other point is that a local officer is more readily available to candidates and to their election agents, and he is able to get ahead with preparations for an election without having to sit back or telephone and await instructions from the county officer. There could be some confusion if a county officer were to reserve some or all of the duties to himself; candidates and their election agents could be confused as to who is dealing with what. Even greater confusion could be caused if it were a county returning officer and not a man intimately connected with the district in the case of independent candidates. Although the two, or even three, main parties often have a knowledgeable election agent who knows his way around, who can deal with the returning officer, and knows which people to deal with, an independent candidate, who has every right to stand, is not so knowledgeable and it is even more confusing in his case to have a county officer rather than the immediate district officer.
§ Basically we say that this has worked very well in London, and what is good enough for London is good enough for the rest of the country when we are reorganising local government.
§ Mr. CarlisleAs the hon. Gentleman knows, this matter has been raised before in Committee, and I would be the last to suggest that there is any great point of principle here. It is a question whether the county returning officer should be responsible or whether it should be an 133 individual district officer. As I say, either arrangement would work.
This matter was considered in detail in committee. The Government still feel that on balance there is an advantage in having one county returning officer to co-ordinate the arrangements for elections of county councillors and to ensure consistency in these arrangements. It is at county level that the notification of resignation or vacation of office will be known, and the county council has to declare the office to be vacant.
I have no strong feelings either way. The intention is that the county returning officer will have the power to appoint district officers to deputise for him, and he will no doubt do so. The Government believe that on balance their proposals are right. I do not think I can say any more except that if the hon. Gentleman wishes to make further representations to me privately I will be prepared to look at the matter again.
§ Mr. OakesI agree that this is not a matter on which one would seek to divide the House, but I should like to emphasise the point which I have already made about having a man on the spot available, rather than a more distant person. I think this would be of considerable assistance not so much to the party candidate as to the independent candidate, the man who has no election agent and no one with experience to look after him. He needs one such person, and that person should be on the spot.
I shall make certain written representations to the hon. Gentleman. I do not seek to divide the House on this matter; it is a question of balance. But I hope that having made those further representations, the hon. Gentleman will have another look at this point, perhaps in another place, with a view to meeting this request, particularly as it affects the independent candidate.
§ Amendment negatived.