Clause 1 - Exclusion of candidate selection from 1975 act
Sex Discrimination (Election Candidates) Bill
11:00 am
Mr Andrew Lansley (South Cambridgeshire, Conservative)
I am shocked that the hon. Lady clearly did not listen to my speech on Second Reading. I do not accept that that is how the process works. In the Conservative party, if I recollect the figures correctly, 18 per cent. of the people who have gone through our initial candidates list procedure were women and 15 per cent. of those selected as candidates were women, including candidates in 15 per cent. of the top 50 seats. We know the nature of the problem that we have to tackle: far too small a proportion of the candidates presented to constituencies were women. We will test the proposition—successfully, I hope—that by achieving a proportionate number of candidates on the central candidates list, and by ensuring that constituencies treat their potential local candidates in a non-discriminatory fashion, 50 per cent. of our candidates will be women if we make women 50 per cent. of the candidates list. That would be our objective, and I hope that the Conservative party and individual constituencies can achieve that on merit.