Clause 3 - Expiry
Sex Discrimination (Election Candidates) Bill
10:30 am
Mr Paul Tyler (North Cornwall, Liberal Democrat)
The honest answer, in the secrecy of the Room, is that unless we get on with the job, we will not achieve that. I have been open at every stage—even with my party at conference—and I fear that we will not make such progress. That is why I support the Bill and believe that it will have to be used.
We must have a sense of urgency about the Bill. Our objective is 40 per cent., and once we reach that, we will be well on the way; momentum will have been achieved. My belief, and perhaps that of my hon. Friend the Member for Cheadle, is that as more women come into this place, it becomes a more attractive place for women to come into. I think that the hon. Member for Maidenhead would agree that the mechanisms enabling women to come here will take account of that fact. All parties have hovered on the fringe of the matter for so long that we still find it difficult to make this place one that women aspire to join and in which they feel comfortable after joining. I said on Second Reading that I am disappointed that, having tasted the flavours of Westminster, quite a lot of women decide that it is not for them. We must take account of that.
I am not making a party political point—I am trying to ensure a real sense of urgency. As I also said on Second Reading, like Mr. Gladstone, I am an old man in a hurry. I remind the Minister, who made a crack about that on Second Reading, that Mr. Gladstone did not always win in his party: he was always ahead of, and rather more radical than his party. As he grew older, he became more radical, although the rest of his party did not necessarily do so.