Schedule 2
Political Parties and Elections Bill
2:00 pm
Andrew Turner (Isle of Wight, Conservative)
I would like to say a word in response to the proposal by the hon. Member for Carmarthen, West and South Pembrokeshire on amendment No. 1. The issue goes to the root of the behaviour of organisations such as the Electoral Commission and the Standards Board for England. The example I will give comes from the Standards Board, but it applies equally to any other organisation that requires a response and which, with a long effort, gets people to change their needs. In other words, the action can last not just for a year, but beyond. The example comes from my constituency, and if hon. Members wish to read about it in more detail, they can do so in the debate from Westminster Hall last Tuesday.
Six of my constituents were referred to the Standards Board. They told it that they understood that their case needed to be examined, and that that would take some time. The Standards Board says that in general, 90 per cent. of cases will be looked at within six months, but after 13 months, it was still working on this one. That is the problem. Cases go on far too long, the board discusses things for too long and, in this instance, that made it impossible for my constituents to continue. One of my constituents has spent £14,000, which was hard to come by. The Standards Board is still working on the case. Four of my constituents need to find sums of up to £8,000. One of them is dead.
I now find these provisions being proposed for organisations such as the commission—I am aware that the Standards Board is not the same as the Electoral Commission, but the performance is exactly the same. The rights and remedies of the Standards Board are the same as those of the Electoral Commission.
I suggest that after x months, or even x years, the right to raise an issue would collapse and should be withdrawn. If the problem has not been sorted out after a year, the case should stop. That is the only way in which we can force organisations such as this either to act or to withdraw the case.