Local Elections (Northern Ireland) Order 2010 — 24 Nov 2010 at 21:08

The majority of MPs voted to modernise local election procedures in Northern Ireland; introducing greater consistency with other elections across the UK.

The primary provisions were highlighted when the motion was originally moved in the House of Commons on the 17th of November 2010^[2] they include:

• Article 3 sets the date of the next district council elections in Northern Ireland as 5 May 2011.
• Schedule 1 contains provisions allowing returning officers to correct procedural errors and supply documents in other languages and formats.
• Schedule 1 also makes provision for the control of donations to candidates in local elections in Northern Ireland, in line with the donation controls that apply at all other elections in Northern Ireland and across the UK.
• Schedule 2 makes changes to absent voting procedures, which again already apply at other elections in Northern Ireland. They include adding registered social workers to the list of those who may attest absent vote applications on the grounds of illness and disability,
• Schedule 3 aligns the law relating to access to and inspection of documents, including the "marked" electoral register, at local elections with procedures at all other elections in Northern Ireland.
• The order also updates the list of acceptable forms of photographic ID that can be presented in order to vote in Northern Ireland.

Technically the vote approved the motion:

• That the draft Local Elections (Northern Ireland) Order 2010, which was laid before this House on 25 October, be approved.

This was a deferred division; as when when the motion was first put to the Commons it was contested (ie. some MPs shouted "No") and it was after latest time set at which the Commons standing orders allows such divisions to be held. This time is called "moment for interruption" and is defined in Standing Order 9(3)^[3] as: "ten o’clock on Mondays and Tuesdays, at seven o’clock on Wednesdays and at six o’clock on Thursdays". The standing order describing the procedures for deferred divisions is Standing Order No. 41A^[3]

This division was followed by a division on the Northern Ireland Assembly (Elections) (Amendment) Order 2010, another piece of secondary legislation which updated the rules for local elections in Northern Ireland.

• [1] Local Elections (Northern Ireland) Order 2010
• [2] Hugo Swire, Minister of State, Northern Ireland, House of Commons, 17th November 2010
• [3] House of Commons Standing Orders for Public Business - PDF

Debate in Parliament | Source |