In this Schedule—

• “the chair” means the person appointed under paragraph 3 above;

• F3“English region” means a region specified in rule 5(2A) of Schedule 2 as the region existed on the day referred to in rule 5(2) of that Schedule;

• “public hearing” means a hearing under F2section 5(4)(c) of this Act;

• “qualifying party” means a party that is registered under Part 2 of the Political Parties, Elections and Referendums Act 2000 and either—

  1. a

     has at least one Member of the House of Commons representing a constituency in the region, or (as the case may be) the part of the United Kingdom, in which the hearing is held, or

  2. b

     received at least 10% of the votes cast in that region or part in the most recent parliamentary general election.