Clause 47 - Political party description
Electoral Administration Bill
2:15 pm
Eleanor Laing (Shadow Secretary of State for Scotland, Scotland; Epping Forest, Conservative)
Surely there can be nothing wrong with a member of a political party being attached to a particular region or area—or even a village. Given that subsequent provisions allow returning officers to prevent confusing or mischievous descriptions, I see no reason why the number of variations should be limited.
The desire to maximise the opportunity for independents to describe themselves in any manner they wish seems highly inconsistent with a clause that radically restricts the ability of political parties to do the same. Parties will be limited to five different types of description, although I appreciate that the number can be varied by the Secretary of State. Perhaps the Minister would give an undertaking that the Secretary of State would be willing to make such variations. Independents could therefore run as '''Independent for Liverpool''; but a registered party could not nominate itself as ''Liverpool Labour'' or ''Liverpool Conservative''. [Laughter.] I appreciate that that would not bring in a large number of votes for my party in that area, but there are some Conservatives in Liverpool