David McLetchie’s speech in AV debate

Speaking at the Scottish Government debate on the AV Referendum and 2011 Scottish Parliament Election Clash, David McLetchie MSP, Scottish Conservative Chief Whip said:

"In an ideal world there would be no coincidence in the dates for holding elections to our Parliaments or Councils or for the conducting of referenda but this is not an ideal or perfect world and on many occasions there has been such a coincidence. Indeed not so long ago the Labour and the Liberal Democrat parties when in government in this Parliament were absolutely insistent that Scottish Parliament and Council elections should be held on the same day and stubbornly resisted proposals from the Conservatives and the SNP to change that coincidence of dates. That change was only finally agreed after the 2007 debacle and the high number of spoilt ballot papers although it is fair to say that in examining the reasons behind this, the coincidence of dates was a minor factor and others relating for example to ballot paper design were of far greater significance. Indeed so far as my party was concerned the principle reason for decoupling Scottish Parliament and Local Government elections was not an administrative one but to ensure that council elections would receive fair and separate consideration by voters, that councils and local issues would have their own day in the sun and not be overshadowed by the elections to this Parliament.

"Moreover it was always possible that a coincidence of dates could occur not by deliberate design but because we did not have fixed term UK Parliaments up until now and in the days when election dates were the prerogative of a majority government it was quite possible that the date of a Westminster election could have coincided with dates for elections to this Parliament or councils both here and in other parts of the United Kingdom.

"So let us be clear that there is nothing particularly novel about this situation which justifies anything like the volume of excitable criticism that it has generated from the SNP and Labour parties.

"Now why are we in this situation? Well the answer is because Nick Clegg had the courage to spurn the advice of his Labour luvvie predecessors – most of whom were Scots – Steel, Kennedy and Campbell – and recognised that the country needed a stable government with a Commons majority to take the difficult decisions which had to be made to tackle the problems inherited from Labour not least the appalling state of the public finances. Moreover as we all know from our own experience in this Parliament the foundation for any formal coalition is a Partnership Agreement negotiated between the coalition partners and in such negotiations the prospective partners will have policies on which they insist and others on which they are prepared to compromise and so it is that agreement is finally reached on a programme for government.

"As we all know one of the concessions made by the Conservatives to the Liberal Democrats in the Coalition Agreement was that the new Government would bring forward legislation to hold a referendum on changing the voting system for elections to the House of Commons from the present first past the post system to the alternative vote system. We were pleased to accommodate our Liberal friends and allies in this respect not because we like the concept of AV which we don't and we will campaign against it – but because it was in the wider national interest that we have a coalition government to tackle the real problems bequeathed to us by Labour.

"Now of course there is a very simple way to resolve this matter and that is for our Liberal Democrat friends to drop their insistence that we have a referendum on a voting system in which they do not believe and have never believed, which will not deliver their wholly grail of proportional representation and if approved and enacted would actually make a true PR system for elections to the House of Commons an even more distant prospect.

"However the Liberal Democrats will not change their minds and so having agreed to legislate for the holding of a referendum the next issue is the date of this UK wide referendum.

"Clearly the constitutional significance of this decision it is desirable to maximise the number of voters who will participate in it. Equally it is clear that the intricacies of the alternative vote system are so mind numbingly tedious that on a free standing basis only the political anoraks which be in the least bit bothered about it one way or the other. In that context coinciding the referendum date with the date for elections to the Scottish Parliament, the Welsh Assembly, and councils in many parts of England involving over 30 million voters. It really is an insult to our intelligence to suggest that Scots voters are uniquely incapable of making up their minds on two matters on the same day. The Conservatives and Liberal Democrats are prepared to treat our fellow Scots as intelligent adults – the patronising parties of the SNP and Labour seem to think they are stupid children.

"Having decided upon a coincidental election and referendum date for reasons of turnout and participation, it is also worth noting that holding these votes on the same day across the United Kingdom will save approximately £17 million pounds – I know this is a small deal in the grand scheme of gargantuan deficits left behind by the Labour party but nonetheless every little helps.

"One of the more absurd arguments I have heard against the coincidence of dates is the idea that somehow the Scottish Parliament elections will be over shadowed by the AV referendum. Well I have to say that the idea that a whimper from Tavish Scott on the subject of the alternative vote is going to drown out a roar from Alex Salmond on who should lead the government of Scotland betrays an extraordinary lack of understanding of how the Scottish media works, how Alex Salmond works and is even disrespectful to Tavish Scott who I think would put the Scottish Parliament elections far ahead of any AV referendum in his scale of priorities for his party. The AV referendum in Scotland is but a footnote to the main event and everyone knows that to be the case.

"The latest report from the Electoral Commission publicised last week stated that it was "broadly satisfied that sufficient progress is presently being made to enable the local returning counting officers to run the polls well and that all voters will be able to participate in them."

"It also worth noting that the AV referendum count across the UK will not commence until 6th May allowing an overnight count to take place in respect of the elections to this Parliament and so Her Majesty's Government has willingly acknowledged the count for the Scottish Parliament election as taking precedence.

"So in all of this there is no lack of respect. The lack of respect that is being shown is a lack of respect shown by Labour and the SNP who want to insult the intelligence capability of voters in Scotland. We certainly do not do so."

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