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10.39 am
Mr. James Clappison (Hertsmere): The hon. Member for West Bromwich, East (Mr. Snape) addressed the important issue of candidates' descriptions eloquently and in a very entertaining manner. Several other hon. Members underlined the importance of that issue, including my hon. Friend the Member for Billericay (Mrs. Gorman) who made a powerful contribution.
The Parliamentary Under-Secretary of State for the Home Department (Mr. Mike O'Brien): I congratulate my hon. Friend the Member for West Bromwich, East (Mr. Snape) on securing this important debate. I join the hon. Member for Hertsmere (Mr. Clappison)--whom I welcome to his new position--in complimenting my hon. Friend on his speech and on the interesting way in which he described an important and difficult issue. Other hon. Members have also raised some concerns. I know that Madam Speaker will have listened to the beginning of the debate with great care and attention. As we have heard, she was involved in an incident during the election campaign.
I assure you, Mr. Deputy Speaker, and Madam Speaker and all hon. Members who have contributed or listened to the debate that the Government take such matters very
seriously and that we are actively examining ways of tackling them. I shall report to my right hon. Friend the Home Secretary on several issues that have been raised during the debate--including the interesting suggestions on ways in which votes might be registered, which deserve serious consideration.
On 1 May, more than 30 million people cast their votes in the general election. No other event involves the direct participation of so many people. Therefore, it is appropriate that we should take time to consider whether our elections are conducted effectively and efficiently. It is important to ensure that the electoral process does not allow people's wishes to be distorted.
I shall deal first with the issue on which my hon. Friend the Member for West Bromwich, East concentrated: misleading descriptions on candidate nomination forms and ballot papers. This is not the first time that the issue has been raised in the House since the election. In an Adjournment debate on 21 May, my hon. Friend the Member for Hackney, South and Shoreditch (Mr. Sedgemore) described the problems that he had encountered in his constituency. I know that a significant number of other hon. Members have experienced various difficulties in that regard. For example, in the 1994 European elections, the hon. Member for Torbay (Mr. Sanders) was opposed by a candidate calling himself a "Literal Democrat". The hon. Member for Billericay (Mrs. Gorman) outlined the difficulties that she has faced, and I hope to return to those matters in a moment.
My hon. Friend the Member for West Bromwich, East referred to incidents that had occurred in council elections. He drew attention to the Bracknell council election, the outcome of which he alleged was affected materially. My hon. Friend the Member for Cannock Chase (Dr. Wright) referred to a little old lady who was deceived when casting her vote. That is an unacceptable situation, and we shall address that problem seriously.
Mr. Alan Hurst (Braintree):
Until the late 1960s, party political descriptions did not appear on ballot papers. A candidate was described as a "farm labourer", "gentleman" or "gentleman retired". We could avoid attracting fringe candidates who do not have proper support, not by increasing the deposit, as the hon. Member for Billericay (Mrs. Gorman) suggested, but by increasing the number of people who are required to nominate a candidate for election. The current figure is 10 nominees per candidate in parliamentary elections, but only two nominees are required in some council elections. There may be a case for increasing the figure to 1 per cent. of eligible voters, which would deter those candidates who do not have sufficient support but not those candidates with genuine conviction.
Mr. O'Brien:
I suspect that that condition might also deter the eccentric candidates, whom we have agreed we would not wish to dissuade from standing in elections. Screaming Lord Sutch has become almost an institution in the British electoral system, and I do not think that any hon. Member would seek to dissuade him from putting his name forward. There are certain difficulties associated with increasing substantially the number of nominees required. I am not sure whether my hon. Friend also advocates removing candidates' descriptions from ballot papers. Those descriptions--so long as they are not misleading--often assist the voter.
Candidates who seek to confuse the voters deliberately and to garner votes that should properly go to another candidate are a menace. They threaten to undermine the democratic process, and the Government are determined to deal with them. The hon. Member for Billericay was opposed by a candidate who called himself a "Loyal Conservative". She and the hon. Member for Totnes (Mr. Steen) referred to candidates who mislead the voters but who believe that their titles honestly reflect their politics. My initial reaction is that what is important is not the candidate's intention but the effect on the voter. Elections are about giving voters a choice--not about allowing candidates to use their preferred titles. We must consider whether the voters are likely to be deceived, even if that is not the candidate's intention.
Before outlining possible solutions to those problems, it might be helpful if I provide some background information. Descriptions on ballot and nomination papers were introduced in 1969 to address the problem of misdirection or attempted misdirection of the electorate. They have clearly not been as effective as we might have wished. The returns from the general election have still to be compiled, but I fear that the use of potentially misleading party names on ballot papers has increased from 1992. Fortunately, that spoiling tactic does not seem to have affected the election outcome in any constituency--my hon. Friend the Member for West Bromwich, East described how it affected a council election--but that does not detract from the seriousness of the problem. As a result of a deliberate deception, some people may have been misled and ended up voting in a way that they did not intend.
The provision that allows every candidate to include a description on his or her nomination paper is set out in the parliamentary election rules in schedule 1 to the Representation of the People Act 1983.
Mr. Adrian Sanders (Torbay):
The rules regarding nomination papers are explicit. However, those rules are often not applied when people fill in nomination papers, which may be signed without completing the details at the top. A simple solution to that problem, which does not require primary legislation, would be to have nomination papers signed in the presence of a justice of the peace in the same way as expenses are signed off after an election. That provision would apply only to parliamentary, and not local, elections.
The Minister might like to consider another solution that would not require primary legislation. At the close of nominations, the returning officer could draw a letter from a bag containing 26 letters of the alphabet, which would start the alphabet for the purposes of the ballot paper. That would prevent a pre-emptive spoiler from using his or her surname against a candidate whose surname began with the letter W, for example--or S in my case.
Mr. O'Brien:
Both ideas are interesting and deserve consideration in the review that will obviously take place after the 1997 general election. In conjunction with other parties, we shall be considering what changes might need to be made. No doubt the hon. Gentleman's propositions can be fed into that process of full and proper review and consideration of the issues.
I return to nomination papers. No candidate is required to provide a description as such on the nomination paper. Where he or she does so, however, the description set out
on the paper is automatically transferred, in the same terms, to the ballot paper. The description may not be obscene or racist or act as an incitement to crime. Beyond that, the rules provide only that the description must not exceed six words and must be sufficient, with the candidate's other particulars, to identify him or her.
I should now explain the responsibilities of acting returning officers. They have responsibility for the conduct of parliamentary elections in each constituency, but they do not have power to amend a candidate's nomination paper, and may reject a nomination only in very restricted circumstances: the circumstances are if the candidate is disqualified because he or she is currently serving a sentence of imprisonment or if the nomination paper is not as required by law and the paper is not subscribed in the due form.
The effect of the second part of the rules is that the acting returning officer can rule only on the validity of the nomination paper, not on the validity of the person's nomination. The reason for limiting the returning officer's authority is clear. Successive Governments have taken it as a first priority that acting returning officers should not be drawn into making decisions that might be considered political, or party political. The officers themselves do not want to be drawn into the political arena. In principle, I think we would all agree that that is right.
I listened with interest to what my hon. Friend the Member for West Bromwich, East said about information about spoiler candidates not being available. I cannot explain why the returning officer in Sandwell took the view that he did. I shall certainly draw the matter to the attention of the Under-Secretary of State for the Home Department, my hon. Friend the Member for Knowsley, North and Sefton, East (Mr. Howarth), who usually deals with these matters in the Home Office. I am sure that the appropriate inquiries will be made.
Some possible solutions have been suggested, including some this morning, as to how we might approach these issues. Over the past couple of years, Home Office officials have had meetings with officials from the political parties to examine options for dealing with the use of misleading descriptions.
I shall consider the various other options before moving to that of registering political parties, which was raised by the hon. Member for Caithness, Sutherland and Easter Ross (Mr. Maclennan). One of the other options would be to increase the level of the deposit. The value of the deposit has fallen against other financial comparators, both since it was first introduced in 1918 and since it was revised in 1985. The evidence suggests, however, that an increase in the level of the deposit would not influence those individuals who deliberately set out to use misleading descriptions as spoilers. It would, however, seriously reduce the opportunity for fringe but genuine parties, such as the Green party, and those people who wish to stand independently of any party, to put up candidates in a general election.
My hon. Friend the Member for West Bromwich, East and others have said that there is no wish to discourage fringe candidates. We seek only to ensure that, when names are on the ballot, everyone who is voting recognises what they are and is not deceived into thinking that they are something that they are not.
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