Selection of prospective Electoral Commissioners and Commission chairman

(1) Section 3 of the 2000 Act (appointment of Electoral Commissioners etc) is amended as follows.

(2) For subsection (2) there is substituted—

     “(2) A motion for such an Address may be made only if— 

      (a) the Speaker of the House of Commons agrees that the motion may be made;

      (b) the motion has been the subject of consultation with the registered leader of each registered party to which two or more Members of the House of                Commons then belong; and

      (c) each person whose appointment is proposed in the motion has been selected in accordance with a procedure put in place and overseen by the                      Speaker’s Committee.”

(3) After subsection (5) there is inserted—

“(5A) In the case of a re-appointment (or further re-appointment) of an Electoral Commissioner, the reference in subsection (2)(c) to being selected in accordance with a procedure put in place and overseen by the Speaker’s Committee is to be read as including a reference to being recommended for re-appointment (or further re-appointment) by that Committee.”