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| PM does not rule out EU and Holyrood votes being held on same day | PM does not rule out EU and Holyrood votes being held on same day |
| (35 minutes later) | |
| Prime Minister David Cameron has not ruled out the possibility of the EU referendum being held on the same day as next year's Holyrood election. | Prime Minister David Cameron has not ruled out the possibility of the EU referendum being held on the same day as next year's Holyrood election. |
| Speaking at Prime Minister's Questions, he said he thought voters were capable of voting on two different issues. | Speaking at Prime Minister's Questions, he said he thought voters were capable of voting on two different issues. |
| Mr Cameron made his comment during questioning from acting Labour leader Harriet Harman. | Mr Cameron made his comment during questioning from acting Labour leader Harriet Harman. |
| She said it would be wrong to hold the in/out vote on the same day as other elections. | She said it would be wrong to hold the in/out vote on the same day as other elections. |
| But Mr Cameron said the EU referendum, which he has pledged to hold before the end of 2017, should be based on negotiations to try to change the conditions of Britain's membership and not the "timing of other elections". | But Mr Cameron said the EU referendum, which he has pledged to hold before the end of 2017, should be based on negotiations to try to change the conditions of Britain's membership and not the "timing of other elections". |
| People in Scotland, Northern Ireland and Wales will vote on elections to their devolved parliaments on 6 May next year. | People in Scotland, Northern Ireland and Wales will vote on elections to their devolved parliaments on 6 May next year. |
| Same day | |
| That day will also see the electorate in England voting in council elections, while mayoral elections will be held in London and some other parts of England. | |
| The prime minister was speaking as Holyrood was given the power to set the date of the next election after 2016 in order to avoid a clash with the UK Parliament. | |
| Tricia Marwick, the Scottish Parliament's presiding officer, had called for the change because elections to both parliaments had been scheduled to take place on the same day in 2020. | |
| Scottish Secretary David Mundell announced the devolution of the power to allow Holyrood to set an alternative date would be fast-tracked through a legal measure known as a section 30 order. | |
| 'Ensures clarity' | |
| Wider controls over Scottish elections will be included in the Scotland Bill, designed to implement the post-referendum Smith Commission recommendations on further devolution. | |
| Mr Mundell said it was a matter of agreement between the UK and Scottish governments that voters should know the length of term they will be electing MSPs to serve in next year's election. | |
| He said: "This is a sensible move which ensures clarity for voters in Scotland by giving the Scottish Parliament the power to set its own parliamentary terms. It will ensure Holyrood elections take place separately from others in future." | |
| Ms Marwick, who wrote to Mr Mundell last month to press the issue, welcomed the announcement, pointing out that party leaders at Holyrood backed the move. | |
| She said: "When the people of Scotland vote in 2016, they need to know how long the term of office will be for those they elect." |