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Jack Straw

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Straw, Jack (52)
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To ask the Secretary of State for Justice whether he has made a recent assessment of the likely effects of the implementation of a preferential voting system on the number of invalid votes cast in an election.

Asked by
Dominic Grieve (Conservative)
Answering body
Ministry of Justice
Type
Written questions
Status
Answered
Date
22 February 2010
Reference
506 c261W; 316318
House
House of Commons

To ask the Secretary of State for Justice what recent estimate he has made of the cost of holding a referendum.

Asked by
Dominic Grieve (Conservative)
Answering body
Ministry of Justice
Type
Written questions
Status
Answered
Date
8 February 2010
Reference
505 c788W; 316336
House
House of Commons
That is one of the many merits of the single-Member constituency majoritarian system, and it is one of the reasons that has always led me wholly to oppose proportional representation, which is essentially a deceit on an electorate because manifestos have no value and the real manifesto is the subject of brokering after any election. That said, my hon. Friend will know that the alternative vote is also a majoritarian system. What we are talking about is a referendum in which there would be a great debate about which of two majoritarian systems would be most appropriate for this century.
Answered by
Jack Straw (Labour)
Answering body
Ministry of Justice
Type
Oral answers to questions
Date
5 January 2010
Reference
503 c9-10
House
House of Commons
Yes. I have made very clear our preference for vote counting to take place on election night, and there has been correspondence between myself and the chairman of the Conservative party on that issue. By law it is a matter for returning officers to decide on, but we believe that there is no good reason in the vast majority of cases why counting cannot take place on election night as it has in the past. The reason-cum-excuse that has been offered is the need to verify postal votes. We all accept that need, but good returning officers are showing that they can do the necessary verification before the close of the count in respect of the vast majority of postal votes, not afterwards.
Answered by
Jack Straw (Labour)
Answering body
Ministry of Justice
Type
Oral answers to questions
Date
5 January 2010
Reference
503 c10
House
House of Commons
I accept what my right hon. Friend says— ... I was going to add a gloss to it. On my right hon. Friend's first point, no one has ever suggested that the alternative vote produces a proportionate result. However, by definition, it requires each individual Member to be elected by at least 50 per cent. of those voting, and many see that as one of its merits. It avoids the problems of so-called AV plus, which would lead to two tiers of Members of Parliament. I think that that would be anathema, and would never gain the support of the British people.
Answered by
Jack Straw (Labour)
Answering body
Ministry of Justice
Type
Oral answers to questions
Date
5 January 2010
Reference
503 c11
House
House of Commons
I remember exactly what we said in 1997, because the responsibility was mine. I never gave the impression of being someone who had suddenly had a Pauline conversion in favour of proportional representation, because I had not and have not. What we said was that we would establish a committee, quite properly, to examine new systems of voting. That committee duly reported under the chairmanship of the late Lord Jenkins, and the truth was that there was not a consensus for change, and had the matter gone to a referendum I think it would have been seen as a waste of public money. We now propose a choice for the British people that preserves the best of our system, and there is an opportunity for a great debate about whether we follow what the Australians have done, which in some respects has added to the robustness of their constituency-based system.
Answered by
Jack Straw (Labour)
Answering body
Ministry of Justice
Type
Oral answers to questions
Date
5 January 2010
Reference
503 c11
House
House of Commons
It is a feature of majoritarian systems, and always has been, that it is rare for there to be an absolute majority of voters in support of the Government of the day. The difference is that majoritarian systems ensure that the largest minority forms a Government. What the Liberals want is a system in which the smallest minority determines the Government. We know that from other countries, not least Germany, where the third party simply changed the Government of the day without there being an election to secure that change.
Answered by
Jack Straw (Labour)
Answering body
Ministry of Justice
Type
Oral answers to questions
Date
5 January 2010
Reference
503 c10-1
House
House of Commons
David Taylor's death, as has already been indicated, was a profound shock to every Member of this House, to the whole of his constituency and obviously to his family. It is particularly poignant for my hon. Friend the Member for Luton, North (Kelvin Hopkins) and for myself, because we often joined David for dinner in the Members' Dining Room, where I, not least, was a recipient of his robust advice on what we had got right, which was usually a brief part of the conversation, and what we needed to do better, which was quite a lengthy part of the conversation. There has been much reference to his being a Back Bencher. He was a Member of this House following in its most honourable tradition of representing fearlessly his constituents. He will be very sorely missed. The Government have repeatedly made it clear that no change in the electoral system for the House of Commons would be made without a decision of the British people in a referendum. We published a comprehensive review of voting systems in January 2008. In his speech at our party's conference in September last year, my right hon. Friend the Prime Minister said that he believed that there should be a referendum early in the next Parliament on whether to move to the alternative vote system for elections to the Commons, and we are giving consideration to how this can best be put into effect.
Answered by
Jack Straw (Labour)
Answering body
Ministry of Justice
Type
Oral answers to questions
Date
5 January 2010
Reference
503 c9
House
House of Commons
I understand the point that the hon. Gentleman makes about the dangers of proportional systems. However, the Australian federal system uses a system of alternative voting, and there is no evidence that members of the Australian federal Parliament lack independence or readiness to speak their mind.
Answered by
Jack Straw (Labour)
Answering body
Ministry of Justice
Type
Oral answers to questions
Date
5 January 2010
Reference
503 c10
House
House of Commons
If he will make it his policy to retain the current electoral system for elections to the House of Commons.
Asked by
Kelvin Hopkins (Labour)
Answering body
Ministry of Justice
Oral questions - Lead
Status
Answered
Date
5 January 2010
Reference
503 c9; 308926
House
House of Commons
The Government's review of voting systems was published in January this year. It considers the experience of the voting systems introduced in the United Kingdom since 1997, and much comparative data from around the world. The review forms an important part of the continuing debate on electoral reform—on which, of course, I have a very open mind.
Answered by
Jack Straw (Labour)
Answering body
Ministry of Justice
Type
Oral answers to questions
Date
28 October 2008
Reference
481 c719
House
House of Commons
I also note that the alleged attractions of the Scottish Executive are rather diminishing as reality presses in on them, and the claim that Scotland would form an arc of prosperity—along with those other paradigms of prosperity, Ireland and Iceland—now looks slightly tatty.
Answered by
Jack Straw (Labour)
Answering body
Ministry of Justice
Type
Oral answers to questions
Date
28 October 2008
Reference
481 c721
House
House of Commons
I take full note of what my hon. Friend has said, and I will record that as a balanced contribution to the consideration of what we shall do in future.
Answered by
Jack Straw (Labour)
Answering body
Ministry of Justice
Type
Oral answers to questions
Date
28 October 2008
Reference
481 c721
House
House of Commons
The right hon. Gentleman and I probably have slightly different views. [Interruption.] I may have an entirely open mind, but I have reached a settled conclusion on the system of electing coalitions of the kind that they have in Austria, which led to deadlock and a failure of the electors to express their opinions, in Israel, which leads to continual and repeated elections, in New Zealand, where the introduction of proportional representation led to a decline in turnout, and in Norway, where proportional representation is blamed for causing political disengagement by preventing voters from being able to turf out Governments. So far, therefore, I have not been convinced. As for Scotland, it is of course true that the party of which I am honoured to be a member has introduced in manifestos, and therefore in legislation, some forms of proportionality in elections—not to this place but to other assemblies. I note that one commentator, Mr. Simon Jenkins, pointed out in The Guardian last year:"““The Lib Dems are proving that they cannot work a system to which they have hitched their wagon for half a century.””" He concluded:"““It is surely time for the Lib Dems to fold their tent and go.””"
Answered by
Jack Straw (Labour)
Answering body
Ministry of Justice
Type
Oral answers to questions
Date
28 October 2008
Reference
481 c719-20
House
House of Commons
I agree with the hon. Gentleman in every particular. Alongside his serious points, let me make a serious point. ... And neither is the hon. Member for Buckingham (John Bercow), and neither are most of my hon. Friends—[Laughter.] And just so that we are clear, some say that I am not, either. I understand the sedulous attractions of proportional representation, although I profoundly disagree with them. The point that those who support PR have never been able to explain is that there can be no proportional transfer of votes into power. A criticism made of first past the post is that it often gives power to a minority, but it usually gives power to the largest minority, whereas the overwhelming difficulty with proportional representation is that it gives power to the smallest minority.
Answered by
Jack Straw (Labour)
Answering body
Ministry of Justice
Type
Oral answers to questions
Date
28 October 2008
Reference
481 c720
House
House of Commons
My hon. Friend will remember that the closed list system was a manifesto commitment in 1997, and it was my duty, simply as a servant of the party, to put it before this House without expressing any personal opinion about its merits or otherwise. She may have noticed, however, that in the proposals in the very good all-party White Paper on the reform of the House of Lords—I have to say, for the avoidance of doubt, that this was not a proposal with which the Opposition were associated—we ruled out, whatever other system was proposed, a closed list system. My hon. Friend, and indeed the House, may wish to give a wider audience to that conclusion.
Answered by
Jack Straw (Labour)
Answering body
Ministry of Justice
Type
Oral answers to questions
Date
28 October 2008
Reference
481 c720
House
House of Commons
What progress has been made in his Department's review of electoral systems; and if he will make a statement.
Asked by
Charles Kennedy (Liberal Democrat)
Answering body
Ministry of Justice
Oral questions - Lead
Status
Answered
Date
28 October 2008
Reference
481 c719; 230376
House
House of Commons
Answered by
Jack Straw (Labour)
Answering body
Foreign and Commonwealth Office
Type
Oral answers to questions
Date
15 June 2004
Reference
422 c637-8
House
House of Commons
Answered by
Jack Straw (Labour)
Answering body
Foreign and Commonwealth Office
Type
Oral answers to questions
Date
15 June 2004
Reference
422 c637-8
House
House of Commons
To ask the Secretary of State for Foreign and Commonwealth Affairs, what links exist between his Department and the United Nations Electoral Assistance Division in preparing for national, regional and local elections in Iraq.
Asked by
Harry Barnes (Labour)
Answering body
Foreign and Commonwealth Office
Oral questions - Lead
Status
Answered
Date
15 June 2004
Reference
422 c637-8; 178634
House
House of Commons