Wednesday 25 Jun 2008 @ 16:44
Scottish Government
Scottish Government
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Report on Scottish Parliamentary elections
Commenting on the Scotland Office's formal response to Ron Gould's report on last year's elections in Scotland, Minister for Parliamentary Business Bruce Crawford said:
"It is extremely disappointing that the UK Government has ignored the central recommendation of Gould - that the responsibilities for elections be transferred to the Scottish Parliament.
"A majority in the Scottish Parliament believes the executive and legislative responsibilities for the administration of its own elections should be transferred to Holyrood. Just a few days ago the Local Government Committee also accepted the case for the transfer of responsibilities.
"It is this 'head in the sand' type of attitude displayed by the Scotland Office and its failure to accept that radical reform is required that led to the fiasco in May 2007. In failing to apply common sense and adopt a radical approach, the UK Government has let down voters in Scotland.
"It is staggering the Scotland Office has accepted the opinion of the Scottish Affairs Select Committee that there is no case to change the current legislative arrangements particularly given this committee did not take any evidence from a single member of the Scottish Parliament or the Scottish Government
"While we welcome the UK Government's support for our proposals to decouple local government elections from Parliamentary elections and the fact they have not closed their mind to the idea of a Chief Returning Officer post, their failure to grasp the nettle around real electoral change casts a shadow over their response."
Related Information
"It is extremely disappointing that the UK Government has ignored the central recommendation of Gould - that the responsibilities for elections be transferred to the Scottish Parliament.
"A majority in the Scottish Parliament believes the executive and legislative responsibilities for the administration of its own elections should be transferred to Holyrood. Just a few days ago the Local Government Committee also accepted the case for the transfer of responsibilities.
"It is this 'head in the sand' type of attitude displayed by the Scotland Office and its failure to accept that radical reform is required that led to the fiasco in May 2007. In failing to apply common sense and adopt a radical approach, the UK Government has let down voters in Scotland.
"It is staggering the Scotland Office has accepted the opinion of the Scottish Affairs Select Committee that there is no case to change the current legislative arrangements particularly given this committee did not take any evidence from a single member of the Scottish Parliament or the Scottish Government
"While we welcome the UK Government's support for our proposals to decouple local government elections from Parliamentary elections and the fact they have not closed their mind to the idea of a Chief Returning Officer post, their failure to grasp the nettle around real electoral change casts a shadow over their response."
Related Information
http://www.scotland.gov.uk/News/Releases/2008/03/19123951
http://www.electoralcommission.org.uk/elections/scotelectionsreview.cfm
