1. This Bill postpones the local elections which were due to be held in England and Wales on 3 May 2001 and in Northern Ireland on 16 May 2001. In both cases, the new date for the poll is set by the Bill as 7 June. It also requires polls for different elections in Northern Ireland which are held on the same day to be taken together.

2. The Bill confers, directly or indirectly, various powers to make subordinate legislation.

CLAUSES 3 AND 4

3. The Schedule to the Bill makes changes which could have been made by subordinate legislation under the powers described in paragraphs 6 to 8 below. These changes are included in the Bill because there may not have been time to make the changes in subordinate legislation which is subject to the affirmative resolution procedure.

4. The changes are designed to ensure that, if the poll for a parliamentary general election is held on 7 June 2001, the poll could be taken with the poll at the local elections in Northern Ireland. As respects Great Britain, equivalent provisions to achieve this already exist. The change to the law in Northern Ireland is achieved by the modifications which Part 1 of the Schedule to the Bill makes to the parliamentary elections rules in Schedule 1 to the Representation of the People Act 1983 and which Part 2 of the Schedule to the Bill makes to the local elections rules in Schedule 5 to the Electoral Law Act (Northern Ireland) 1962 (as substituted by Schedule 1 to S.I. 1985/454). Part 3 of the Schedule to the Bill amends the absent voting provisions in Part V of the Representation of the People (Northern Ireland) Regulations 2001 (S.I. 2001/400) and Part III of Schedule 2 to the Local Elections (Northern Ireland) Order 1985 (S.I. 1985/454).

5. Paragraphs 32 to 34 of the Schedule to the Bill preserve the power to replace the provisions and amendments made by that Schedule under the relevant powers to make subordinate legislation.

6. As respects parliamentary elections, clause 3 does not confer any new power to make subordinate legislation. However, clause 3 has the effect of extending the existing power to make regulations about combined polls which is conferred by section 15(5) of the Representation of the People Act 1985 (c.50) to Northern Ireland. At present, that provision does not extend there (see section 29(5) of that Act).

7. Section 15 of the 1985 Act is treated by section 27(2) of that Act as if it were contained in Part I of the Representation of the People Act 1983. Accordingly, section 201(2) of that Act (as substituted by Schedule 4 to the 1985 Act) applies to the power to make regulations and they are subject to the affirmative resolution procedure. It is submitted that this is the appropriate level of parliamentary control over the regulations.

8. As respects local elections, the amendment made by clause 3(4) of the Bill ensures that the power in section 84(1) of the Northern Ireland Act 1998 (c.47) to make an Order in Council in respect of district council elections in Northern Ireland includes power to make provision about combined polls. Under section 84(4), any such Order in Council is subject to the affirmative resolution procedure. It is submitted that this provides the appropriate level of parliamentary control over any such Order.

CLAUSE 6

9. Clause 6 confers on the Secretary of State a power to make a scheme to compensate local authorities or candidates who incur additional expenditure as a result of the postponement of the elections due to be held on 3 May. The scheme is not required to be made by subordinate legislation and is not subject to parliamentary procedure. Since the scheme will be a one-off arrangement in respect of this postponement only, it is submitted that it is not necessary to subject it to the sort of scrutiny which would apply if the arrangements were intended to have effect for a longer period.

CLAUSE 7

10. Clause 7 confers power on the Secretary of State to make such consequential, transitional or supplemental provision as he considers appropriate as a result of any provision of the Bill or any provision made under it. The power is exercisable by statutory instrument and subject to the negative resolution procedure (subsections (3) and (4)).

11. The powers conferred by clause 7 are admittedly wide. However, the circumstances in which the provisions of the Bill postponing elections were drafted prevented consultation on those provisions. Although it is hoped that this is not the case, there may be circumstances for which the Bill does not make sufficient provision. The power to make an order under clause 7 addresses that.

12. The exercise of the powers will be addressed to the postponement for which the Bill provides. As such, the exercise of the powers would relate to that postponement rather than indefinitely. It is accordingly submitted that the negative resolution procedure provides an appropriate level of scrutiny in these circumstances. It also enables an order to be made quickly, if necessary, without the need for a draft to be approved by each House of Parliament.

Home Office

April 2001