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'6A. A constituency list shall not be validly submitted unless assented to by 100 persons on the electoral register for that constituency.'.
No. 13, page 6, line 19, at end insert--
No. 16, page 6, line 19, at end insert--
No. 52, page 6, line 19, at end insert--
No. 73, page 6, line 19, at end insert--
Mr. Trimble:
The issue raised by amendment No. 46 was discussed in an earlier debate, owing to its similarity to amendment No. 74, which was tabled by the hon. Member for Spelthorne. Given the Government's hostility to that amendment, I shall deal now with amendment No. 44.
The Minister said earlier that the Government were prepared to do their utmost to prevent frivolous parties from standing in the elections. I took a longhand note, which may not be entirely accurate, but I think that Hansard will confirm that that is more or less what was said. I agree: we are engaged in a serious business. It is not like a by-election, in which we expect the Monster Raving Loony party and many others to feature, merely in order to advertise themselves.
The point about self-advertisement is worth considering. The parties that are nominated are entitled to free postal facilities, allowing them to deliver a manifesto to each elector or a leaflet to every household. It is called the postal drop. That allows those who wish to advertise certain issues, or even products, an opportunity that people involved in local government by-elections have been prepared to pay for--but under the Government's proposals they would not have to pay. Having found a person who is prepared to stand for them in a particular area, they would be entitled to the postal drop. I consider that undesirable, but, if it is to come about, we should be allowed the safeguard that applies in electoral law generally--the requirement for a deposit. That, we hope, would act as a disincentive, at least to parties with limited resources. In many respects, of course, that applies to my party.
Northern Ireland press reports have suggested that one of the parties that would be standing recently helped itself to £1 million from Securicor. We assume that it is fairly flush as a consequence. We trust that it acquired the money solely for the purpose of electioneering, rather than for the activities in which it was engaged before the ceasefire. We would prefer it to spend its money on electioneering: we do not mind about the unfair advantage conferred on it.
Mr. Jim Dowd (Lewisham, West):
I hope that I have not wrongly assumed what the hon. Gentleman is about to say. He drew attention to the parallel with deposits for parliamentary elections. The return of those deposits depends on a certain degree of performance; I cannot see a parallel with that in amendment No 44.
Mr. McNamara:
It is on the other side of the page.
Mr. Trimble:
Indeed, if my hon. Friend the Member for Lewisham, West (Mr. Dowd) turns the page, he will see the answer to his question.
I may be criticised for pitching the deposit on the high side, but a £5,000 deposit for a regional list that may contain 10 names does not strike me as excessive, given the current £500 tariff for parliamentary elections. It could, I suppose, be argued that that is the equivalent of £500 for each of four candidates on a constituency list, which can in fact contain up to five candidates, but I felt that if we were to provide a disincentive, it should be a serious disincentive.
As for the saving of deposits, I think that we are being entirely fair. We are saying that a party can save its deposit if it obtains 5 per cent. of the vote. That is a pretty low hurdle, and the hurdle for regional lists is even lower, at 2 per cent.
Mr. Barnes:
Is it not technically possible for a party to receive less than 2 per cent. of the vote, lose its deposit and still have representatives appointed?
Mr. Trimble:
That is one of the ludicrous consequences of having a regional list, which was criticised earlier. If the deposit were forfeited when a party failed to win 2 per cent. of the vote, a significant number of parties would probably be elected, and would
The point of the amendment is to achieve the objective mentioned earlier by the Minister, and to prevent frivolous parties from standing.
Mr. Barnes:
I shall speak to amendment No. 52.
Schedule 1 contains a paragraph entitled "Disqualification". Disqualification is limited to candidates who are offenders in prison, who are detained on the ground of mental illness and who are not of voting age. That is quite restricted, compared with the requirements for parliamentary candidates. I realise that we are not talking about parliamentary elections, but we should discuss the possible equivalent of a parliamentary disqualification. I refer to the nationality restriction--the legal disqualification of those who are often termed aliens. Those who are not British or Commonwealth citizens, or citizens of the Republic of Ireland, cannot stand in parliamentary elections. Should a similar provision operate in Northern Ireland?
We are talking about the establishment of a forum, followed by negotiations. Part of those negotiations--strand 1--will involve the British Government and political parties in Northern Ireland. Should we not restrict electoral candidates to people from Northern Ireland? The obvious list, surely, would be composed of those entitled to vote in the elections, who are referred to in paragraph 4 of the schedule.
As I said earlier, for Parliament, the grounds for legal disqualifications are wider than that, and I am not suggesting that any of those grounds should apply. Disqualifications on peers and peeresses will apply, and ministers of religion from the Church of England, the Church of Ireland and the Roman Catholic Church and those who are bankrupt are disqualified, as are many people who hold public office, such as the chairman of the Fire Authority for Northern Ireland or a member of the Northern Ireland Economic Council.
Obviously, the body that we are debating has specific purposes, and it would not be appropriate to use the list of disqualifications that applies in parliamentary elections. In law, we define those who stand for election by means of disqualification: it is a negative procedure that excludes hosts of people. Perhaps it goes too far and many people should not be excluded. Not even the electoral register is
perfect, because it includes overseas voters who do not seem to be appropriate people to stand in elections. However, it is unlikely that any of them would qualify.
People who are interested in standing for election might be appointed by the leaders of political parties, of which the Bill contains a large list. That must have been considered by the Government when they drafted the legislation. It is hardly an oversight that there is no reference to the electoral register, and I should like to know why it was not included in the legislation. Are the reasons for it to do with the development of negotiations and the forum? Is it felt that anyone can stand as long as the disqualifications in the schedule do not apply to him?
Mr. Wilshire:
Amendment No. 73 is in my name, and as it covers much of the ground that has been covered by the hon. Member for North-East Derbyshire (Mr. Barnes), I shall not repeat the arguments. I do not know whether the hon. Gentleman realises how close he might be to a particular truth. He may find some of my speech fascinating. My amendment adds two requirements, one of which is a variation on the hon. Gentleman's amendment. I chose being on the Northern Ireland electoral register as one of the qualifications--I understand the weakness of the parliamentary register--and my other qualification is that a candidate must be ordinarily resident in Northern Ireland.
'(d) he has been convicted of a scheduled offence within the terms of the Northern Ireland (Emergency Provisions) Act 1991'.
'(d) he has been convicted of any serious terrorist offence prescribed in an Order made under paragraph 1.'
'(d) he is not entitled to vote in any constituency in Northern Ireland under the provisions of paragraph 4 of this Schedule.'.
'(d) he is not ordinarily resident in Northern Ireland;
(e) he is not on the current electoral register for a Northern Ireland parliamentary constituency.'.
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