European Union Referendum Bill — House of Commons, 2015-06-16
Topic: International Affairs
Lindsay Harvey Hoyle (Labour, Centre-left): With this it will be convenient to discuss the following: Amendment 49, page 1, line 7, leave out "31 December" and insert "1 July" The amendment would require the referendum to take place before 1 July 2017. Amendment 50, page 1, line 8, leave out "2017" and insert "2016" The amendment would require the referendum to take place before 31 December 2016. Amendment 4, page 1, line 8, at end insert— ‘(3A) No later than ten weeks before the date on which the referendum is to be held the Secretary of State must lay before both Houses of Parliament an independent report by the Office for Budget Responsibility on the implications for the sustainability of the public finances of the United Kingdom leaving the European Union.". The amendment would require the Secretary of State to publish, ten weeks before the referendum, a report by the OBR on the consequences of the United Kingdom leaving the European Union. Amendment 5, page 1, line 8, at end insert— ‘(3A) No later than ten weeks before the date on which the referendum is to be held the Secretary of State must lay before both Houses of Parliament a report on the consequences of the United Kingdom leaving the European Union for each ministerial departments’ responsibilities." The amendment would require the Secretary of State to publish, ten weeks before the referendum, a report by each Secretary of State on the consequences of the United Kingdom leaving the European Union for their areas of ministerial responsibility. Amendment 6, page 1, line 8, at end insert— ‘(3A) No later than ten weeks before the date on which the referendum is to be held the Secretary of State must ask for and lay before both Houses of Parliament any assessment made by the Bank of England on the consequences of the United Kingdom leaving the European Union." The amendment would require the Secretary of State to publish, ten weeks before the referendum, any assessment by the Bank of England on the consequences of the United Kingdom leaving the European Union. Amendment 46, page 1, line 8, at end insert— ‘(3A) No later than ten weeks before the date on which the referendum is to be held the Secretary of State must lay before both Houses of Parliament a report by the Office for Budget Responsibility on the consequences for the Transatlantic Trade and Investment Partnership of the United Kingdom leaving or remaining a member of the European Union." The amendment would require the Secretary of State to publish, ten weeks before the referendum, a report by the OBR on the consequences for TTIP of leaving or remaining a member of the European Union. Amendment 47, page 1, line 8, at end insert— ‘(3A) No later than ten weeks before the date on which the referendum is to be held the Secretary of State must lay before both Houses of Parliament a report on the consequences for negotiations on the Transatlantic Trade and Investment Partnership of the United Kingdom leaving or remaining a member of the European Union." The amendment would require the Secretary of State to publish, ten weeks before the referendum, a report on the consequences for negotiations on TTIP of leaving or remaining a member of the European Union. Amendment 54, page 1, line 8, at end insert— ‘(3A) Before appointing a day under subsection (2) the Secretary of State shall lay before both Houses a report on materials which any Minister of the Crown, government department or local authority or any other person or body whose expenses are defrayed wholly or mainly out of public funds or by any local authority intend or expect to publish in the period of 28 days ending with the date of the referendum that— (a) deals with any of the issues raised by any question on which the referendum is being held; (b) puts any argument for or against any particular answer to any such question; or (c) is designed to encourage voting at the referendum." This amendment requires the Government, prior to setting a date for the Referendum by regulations subject to the affirmative procedure, to publish a report on what publications which would normally be prohibited by Section 125 of the Political Parties, Elections and Referendums Act 2000 the Government intends or expects to publish in the four weeks before the referendum. Amendment 11, page 17, line 37, in schedule 1, leave out paragraph 25 and insert— ‘25 (1) Section 125 of the 2000 Act (restriction of publication etc of promotional material by central and local government etc) applies in relation to the referendum during the referendum period with the following modification. (2) Section 125(2)(a) of the 2000 Act has effect for the purposes of the referendum as if, after "Crown", there were inserted "including ministers in the Scottish Government, the Welsh Government, the Northern Ireland Executive and Her Majesty‘s Government of Gibraltar".’ The purpose of the amendment is to apply the "purdah" arrangements that govern ministerial and official announcements, visits and publicity during general elections to the campaign period before the referendum. Amendment (a) to Schedule 1, leave out "modification" and insert "modifications" Amendment (b), at end add— ‘(3) Section 125(2) of the 2000 Act has effect for the purposes of the referendum with the addition of subsection— "(e) advocacy on any issue having a bearing on the outcome of the referendum"" New clause 3—Restriction on publications etc— ‘(1) This section applies to any material, which— (a) provides general information about the referendum, (b) deals with any of the issues raised by the referendum question, (c) puts any arguments for or against any outcome, or (d) is designed to encourage voting at the referendum (2) Subject to subsection (3), no material to which this section applies is to be published during the relevant period by or on behalf of— (a) the UK government, (b) the House of Commons or House of Lords, (c) the devolved administrations, (d) any local authority, (e) public bodies, or (f) the European Commission and European Parliament (3) Sub-paragraph (2) does not apply to— (a) existing material made available to persons in response to specific requests for information or to persons specifically seeking access to it, or (b) anything done by or on behalf of— (i) a designated organisation, (ii) the Electoral Commission, or (c) the Chief Counting Officer or any other counting officer, or (d) the publication of information relating to the holding of the poll (4) In this paragraph— "publish" means make available to the public at large, or any section of the public, in whatever form and by whatever means (and "publication" is to be construed accordingly), "the relevant period" means the period of 28 days ending with the date of the referendum (a) A breach of the rules set out in this section, will be an offence (b) A person guilty of an offence under this section, is liable— (i) on conviction on indictment, to a fine; (ii) on summary conviction in England and Wales, to a fine; (iii) on summary conviction in Scotland or Northern Ireland, to a fine not exceeding the statutory maximum; (iv) on summary conviction in Gibraltar, to a fine note exceeding level 5 on the Gibraltar standard scale.’ The New Clause prescribes a period of "purdah" in the four weeks before the referendum. New clause 4—Referendum Fairness Board— ‘(1) There shall be a committee of privy counsellors, to be called the Referendum Fairness Board, whose duty is to consider any alleged breach of section (Restriction on publications etc) which comes attention of any of its members. (2) Each of the following presiding officers for the time being may appoint any privy counsellor as a member of the board— (a) the Speaker of the House of Commons, (b) the Lord Speaker, (c) the Presiding Officer of the Scottish Parliament, (d) the Speaker of the Northern Ireland Assembly, or (e) the Presiding Officer of the National Assembly for Wales (3) The Board shall prescribe its own rules of procedure, which must include procedures for— (a) instituting legal action to interdict or injunct any further breach or repetition of an alleged breach, and (b) drawing to the attention of the relevant prosecuting authority any serious or continuing breach of section (Restriction on publications etc).’ The New Clause provides for swift enforcement of the "purdah" rules which would apply under the linked New Clause in the four weeks leading up to the referendum.