Clause 47 - Political party description
Electoral Administration Bill
2:15 pm
Eleanor Laing (Shadow Secretary of State for Scotland, Scotland; Epping Forest, Conservative)
I probably could name them, but it would not take long. I must be careful, Mr. Conway, to treat Conservatives in Liverpool with respect. They are a fine and courageous band.
Why is it wrong to be ''Liverpool Labour'' or ''Liverpool Conservative''—or even ''Liverpool Liberal''? Surely, it cannot be right that independent candidates will be free to use any description they wish but each political party will be limited to one of its five registered descriptions. It seems counter-intuitive that political parties will not be allowed to use the descriptions that they wish to use. It would not be reasonable to amend the Bill as we suggest except that checks are already in place to ensure that descriptions are not misused and do not cause confusion among the electorate. If the Minister does not accept the amendment, he will be advocating simplicity for political parties but diversity for independents. That would simply be unjust.