High noon for Raynsford

(or is it High Tea?)

The North East No Campaign have (at 2.30 pm today) issued an ultimatum, by way of a letter, to The Rt Hon. Nick Raynsford Minister for Local and Regional Government concerning the misleading information peddled by the government of the NE regional elected assembly. The letter speaks for itself:

The Rt Hon. Nick Raynsford
Minister for Local and Regional Government
Office of the Deputy Prime Minister
26 Whitehall
London
SW1A 2WH
Thursday, 23 September 2004
BY FAX: 020 - 7944 4539
Also by e-mail to: nick.raynsford@odpm.gsi.gov.uk

***EXTREMELY URGENT***

Dear Mr Raynsford

Referendum 4 November 2004

This is an important letter.

We act for the North-East No Campaign Limited. We have been instructed on their behalf to write this letter.

We write in relation to the referendum that is being carried out pursuant to section 1 of the Regional Assemblies (Preparations) Act 2003.

We refer to the document published by the Office of the Deputy Prime Minister entitled An Elected Assembly for the North East. Have Your Say, (Product Code 04RDG02287 NE), published August 2004 (A the Document@ ).

As you are aware, 1.2 million copies (approximately) of the Document were distributed to each address in the North-East Region in late August 2004. The Document is directly and exclusively related to the forthcoming referendum that is to be held by closing date of 4 November 2004. The fact that the Document is published by the Office of the Deputy Prime Minister plainly gives it the appearance of authoritativeness and means that it must be correct in every detail and in no way misleading. This is underscored by Guidance from the Cabinet Office in relation to Government Publicity and Advertising.

On the fifth page of the Document, in the page headed "County Durham" , it states:

"The Government will pay the upfront costs needed to realise these savings. These costs should be less than , 37 million for option A and , 38 million for option B."

As you have already publicly admitted, this statement is erroneous and should read:

"The Government will pay the upfront costs needed to realise these savings. These costs should be less than , 37 million for option A and , 49 million for option B."

In other words, you admit an error of , 11 million pounds.

Your admission has been widely reported, including in the 17 September 2004 issue of The Journal.

You have also publicly stated, and this too has been widely reported, that you will be shortly writing to all households in County Durham correcting this error.

All households in County Durham@ constitutes approximately 220,000 households of the 1.2 million households to which the Document has been sent.

We would ask that you confirm, as a matter of urgency, that the corrected version will be sent to all 1.2 million households to which the Document has been sent.

Next, there is a further material error in the Document which we would ask to be corrected at the same time and sent to all 1.2 million households to which the Document has been sent.

On the second page of the Document it is stated:

"The Government intends that a North East assembly would consist of around 25 elected members to represent different views and parts of the region. They would be elected - as in Scotland, Wales and London - by a system of proportional representation to help prevent domination by a single party and to help ensure a balance of opinion. Elections would be held every four years."

This is incorrect. In the Draft Regional Assemblies Bill (presented to Parliament by the Deputy Prime Minister and First Secretary of State, July 2004, Cm 6285) (" the Bill" ) clause 3 provides that an assembly is to consist of: (a) constituency members; and (b) regional members. The former are members for electoral regions, called "constituencies" , within the assembly= s region (cl. 3(2)). The latter are members for the whole of the assembly= s region (cl. 3(3)). There is to be one constituency member for each constituency and, accordingly, the region of an assembly is divided into as many constituencies as there are constituency members (cl. 4(1)-(2)). The number of constituency members and the number of regional members for the assembly is to be such as the Secretary of State may prescribe (cl. 3(4)). The total number of members for the assembly is to be between 25 and 35 (cl. 3(5)).

In the Explanatory Notes to the Bill, paragraph 15 states:

15. Assembly members would be elected under what is called the Additional Member System (also used for the election of members to the Greater London Authority). This means that a number of members (constituency members) would be elected for constituencies on the traditional first-past-the-post method. The rest (regional members ) would be elected on a region-wide basis, as top-up members. The precise division between the number of each type of elected member would be decided by an order of the Secretary of State but it is expected that the constituency members would make up the majority.

Similarly, the Office of the Deputy Prime Minister document entitled Proposed Statutory Guidance to the Electoral Commission on drawing-up the Constituencies for a North East Regional Assembly. Consultation Paper it is stated:

1. Members of a North East regional assembly will be elected using a form of proportional representation known as the Additional Member System. This will mean that a North East assembly will have a majority of members representing individual constituencies elected by the first-past-the-post system, with a minority being elected from regional lists to ensure that the
overall representation in an assembly is broadly representative of the votes cast.

The White Paper stated that the Government would expect that around 33 to 35 per cent of its members would be regional top-up members meaning that around 65-67 per cent of members would be constituency members for specific electoral areas. The Government feels that such a breakdown (which mirrors that for the National Assembly for Wales) would both ensure that all voters have an identifiable constituency representative whilst encouraging an assembly to take a region-wide approach. With this in mind the Government feels that the most appropriate number of constituency members (and of electoral areas) would be between 15 and 17 (as this would provide that proportionality) and would welcome the Commission's advice on the exact allocation of members within this range.

It is, accordingly, incorrect (or, at very best, substantially misleading) to describe the voting to be "by a system of proportional representation." We would therefore ask that you correct the Document so that it reads:

The Government intends that a North East assembly would consist of around 25 elected members to represent different views and parts of the region. The majority of members representing individual constituencies will be elected by the first-past-the-post system, with a minority being elected from regional lists to ensure that the overall representation in an assembly is broadly representative of the votes cast. Elections would be held every four years.

Again, please advise by return fax that you will be ensuring that this correction is included in the corrected version to be sent, and that it will be sent to all 1.2 million households to which the Document has been sent.

We understand that your proposed corrected version of the Document is to be sent to the 220,000 households on Monday, 27 September 2004. In the circumstances, we would ask for your written confirmation of both matters (i.e. that it will be sent to all 1.2 million households and that the other correction will also be made) by 5:00pm today (i.e. 23 September 2004).

If you advise in writing by 5:00pm today that you will defer sending the currently-intended corrected version, we are prepared to allow you greater time within which to consider your response to this request. In this latter case please advise by 5:00pm today as to the date by which you will let us know your response to the corrections and the wider distribution as well as the revised date on which you propose to send out the corrected document.

In the event that we do not receive a satisfactory response from you by 5:00pm today, we shall be immediately instituting declaratory proceedings in the High Court of Justice. To this end, we have already instructed Counsel.

Yours faithfully