Conduct of Referendums (Hansard, 3 November 1998)

§ Mrs. Eleanor Laing (Epping Forest)

I beg to move, That leave be given to bring in a Bill to set up an election commission with powers over the conduct and financing of referendums. Referendums have not been a traditional part of our democratic system. It is regrettable that, under the present Government, they are becoming ever more frequent. It is sad that a Government with so large a majority do not have sufficient confidence in their own policies to accept responsibility for them.

I accept that, in certain cases—where major constitutional change is involved—it is right to consult the people. However, a referendum is not a mere opinion poll to be used at the whim of the Government of the day. Opinion polls and focus groups have become popular with the Government, and we all know that if one asks the right question, one gets the right answer—or, rather, if one frames a question in a certain way, one will get the answer one wants.

That is all very well if the object of the exercise is to determine which soap powder washes whiter, or which instant coffee tastes most like the real thing. Such a cavalier approach is not acceptable when the point at issue is whether there should be a fundamental change to our voting system, whether the pound should be merged with the euro, or whether the composition of this Parliament itself should be altered. We are likely to be faced with referendums on all three of those issues, among others, some time in the near future.

It is truly incredible that the Government are willing to conduct referendums on such fundamental aspects of our democratic system, but are unwilling to entrench that very process of consultation in a properly determined framework. I hope that the House will agree that it is not only desirable but necessary to establish fair and clear rules, and to appoint an independent arbiter to govern the conduct of referendums.

The Bill will give legislative effect to the reasoned plea for real referendums—a campaign which was launched by my Conservative colleagues, and which has the support of hon. Members from all parties in this House, several Members of another place, the Electoral Reform Society, Charter 88, the Constitution Unit and the Institute for Constitutional Research. The Bill will also implement the recommendations of the Neill committee on standards in public life, which were published last month.

The main effects of the Bill will be: first, to set up an independent commission, the members of which shall be nominated not by the Government but by the Speaker; secondly, to give a remit to the commission to report within three months on a clear set of rules to govern the conduct and financing of referendums, including such issues as who is eligible to vote, what constitutes a sufficient majority, how the question can be worded and how access to public service broadcasting shall be determined; thirdly, to prohibit the holding of any referendum except those conducted in accordance with the rules laid down by the independent commissioners.

The Electoral Reform Society has called this a level playing field for referendums. It is hard to imagine why anyone who upholds democracy would wish to see a 715 referendum conducted other than on a fair and level playing field. If the purpose of consulting the people is to secure legitimacy for important constitutional decisions, first, voters must be well informed about the arguments on both sides of the campaign, and, secondly, the side which loses must be confident that the fight was fairly conducted.

For those two conditions to apply, the information campaigns must be adequately funded, and the funding must be equally balanced. It will therefore be necessary to provide for public funding for the campaigns, as the Neill committee recommended. It is utterly absurd that, at present, we have a democratic system which conducts general elections under strict rules—to our great credit in the UK, as one of the oldest and most stable democracies in the world—yet we have, over the past year or so, condoned a situation in which the Government have been able to spend substantial sums of taxpayers' money promoting only one side of a referendum campaign—for example, in the outrageously one-sided campaign in Wales. There can be no argument—it simply is not fair.

It is essential that an independent commission should lay down reasonable, clear and fair rules for funding on both sides of referendum campaigns as a matter of urgency, and certainly before another referendum is called—which, given the new-found enthusiasm of some Ministers for a single currency, could be at any minute.

I am pleased to have the opportunity to ask leave of the House to bring in this important Bill, but it should not be left to a humble Opposition Back Bencher to bring this matter before the House and to attempt to put into legislation a framework for the fair conduct of referendums. If, by any chance, the Bill fails to become law, and I suppose there is every chance that it will not— [HON. MEMBERS: "Hear, hear."] I am grateful for the support of my hon. Friends. It is a pity that we are nearing the end of this Session. I sincerely hope that every hon. Member who believes in defending the democratic process will join me in calling on the Government to produce a Bill that will have the same effect in the next Session.