Conduct of the recall petition process

9Recall petition to be made available for signing

(1)The petition officer must ensure that the recall petition is made available for signing throughout the signing period at the designated place or places, and by post, in accordance with regulations under section 18.

(2)In this Act “the signing period” means the period of 6 weeks beginning with the designated day.

(3)The recall petition is made available for signing at the designated place or places, or by post, by a separate petition signing sheet being available for signing by each person entitled to sign the petition at that place, or by post, in accordance with regulations under section 18.

(4)The wording of a petition signing sheet must include the following—

“By signing in the box below, you are signing a petition for [name of the MP], the MP for [name of constituency], to lose [his/her] seat in the House of Commons, and for a by-election to be held to decide who should be the MP for that constituency. The loss of [his/her] seat does not prevent the MP standing in this by-election.

If at least 10% of eligible registered electors in the constituency sign the petition, the MP will lose [his/her] seat in the House of Commons and a by-election will be held for the constituency. If less than 10% of eligible registered electors in the constituency sign the petition, the MP will not lose [his/her] seat as a result of the petition and therefore no by-election will be held.”

(5)The Minister may by regulations amend subsection (4).

(6)Regulations under subsection (5) are subject to affirmative resolution procedure.