LORDS AMENDMENT (Hansard, 24 July 1978)

§ The MINISTER of STATE, HOME OFFICE (Lord Harris of Greenwich)

My Lords, I beg to move that this House doth not insist on their Amendment No. 20, to which the Commons have disagreed for the Reason numbered 21. This Amendment would disqualify anyone not entitled to vote as an elector at an Assembly election; that is, briefly, those people who, under Clause 3, are on the relevant part of the register and would be entitled to vote as electors in a Parliamentary Election, or who as Peers would be entitled to vote at a local government election in the relevant area. The Amendment would therefore require a species of residential qualification for a candidate in an election to the Assembly. Of course, there is in local government—and one concedes this immediately—a string of qualifications intended to ensure a local connection; but so far as Parliament is concerned there is no restriction, and it would be difficult to argue plausibly for any restriction.

It may of course be suggested that the nature of the Welsh Assembly is such that a local connection of the kind laid down in the Amendment is necessary, but that is certainly not our view. We are not talking about local government: we are talking about a body of a national character. The Government do not consider 660 that the Assembly should be treated as a species of local authority. At Westminster we accept that there is no call for any particular residential qualification on Members. Indeed, the nature of the duties to be carried out by Members could sometimes makes it remarkably difficult to frame a rule without causing a great deal of difficulty. The other place disagreed with this Amendment without a Division and, in the light of this. I trust your Lordships will not wish to press this matter further.