Elections agency urged to oppose votes clash

THE UK's elections agency is facing growing pressure to oppose plans to hold the next Scottish elections and a referendum on voting reform on the same day, amid claims that it is failing to speak up for the democratic interest.

Coalition ministers announced last month that they planned to hold a referendum on changing the voting system on 5 May next year - the same day Scots and Welsh voters have devolved elections.

The move is opposed by both the SNP and Labour, who argue that it will detract attention from crucial elections. First Minister Alex Salmond described the plans as "outrageous".

The Electoral Commission, which oversees electoral law, has so far declined to make its views known about the matter, stating only that there are advantages as well as disadvantages in the plan. But it is facing criticism over its failure to speak out against the move.

Its current stance contrasts with its position in 2002, when it publicly opposed similar plans by the then Labour government to hold a referendum on the euro on the same day as the devolved elections in 2003. It warned of "significant confusion", saying the referendum could influence the outcome of the elections held on the same day.

The Commission said yesterday that it would make a fuller statement once the referendum bill is published later this week.

Democracy campaigner Nigel Smith, who chaired the pro-devolution Scotland Forward in the late 1990s, has written to the Commission to ask why it has not yet spoken up. In the letter, he said: "I fail to understand why the Commission's well-considered advice in 2002 against holding a major UK referendum at the same time as general elections in devolved nations has apparently been reversed.

"There can be little doubt that if this precedent is allowed future major referendums will all too easily be dumped on the devolved nations. The UK is slowly evolving some good referendum practice. Why sacrifice this in the search of other reforms?"

A spokeswoman for the Electoral Commission said yesterday: "We are not saying anything specific about this until the bill has been published.

"All we are saying at the moment is that there are advantages and disadvantages around this."

An SNP spokesman said: "The Electoral Commission needs to do its job, and speak up in the Scottish democratic interest - just as it did in 2002. The case against bouncing an AV referendum on the same day as the elections for the Scottish Parliament, National Assembly for Wales, and Northern Ireland Assembly are very clear."