§ ORDINARY DAY OF ELECTION
§ Mr. CarlisleI beg to move Amendment No. 232, in page 23, line 10, leave out from 'be' to end of line 12 and insert:
'the first Thursday in May or such other day as may be fixed by the Secretary of State by order made not later than 1st February in the year preceding the first year in which the order is to take effect'
Mr. Deputy SpeakerIt will be for the convenience of the House to take also Government Amendments Nos. 425 and 430.
§ Mr. CarlisleThe purpose of Amendment No. 232, which was earlier welcomed by the right hon. Member for Deptford (Mr. John Silkin), is to fix the annual date for elections on the first Thursday in May, or such other day as may be fixed by order of the Home Secretary made not later than 1st February in the year preceding the first year in which the order is to take effect. There was a request that the Bill should contain a local government election day, and 159 the Amendment fixes it as the first Thursday in May.
Clause 46(1), which deals with occasions when a poll has been abandoned or countermanded, does not state the period in which another election must be held. Amendment No. 425 requires such an election to be held within 42 day and Amendment No. 430 provides that Sundays and public holidays shall be excluded from the computation of that period of 42 days.
§ Amendment agreed to.