Electoral Administration Bill

moved Amendment No. 118:"Page 57, line 8, leave out from beginning to end of line 2 on page 58." The noble Lord said: This amendment is about local flexibility in relation to candidates’ descriptions. I suspect that it may apply rather more to Liberal Democrats than to other parties, which have a slightly more centralised approach to the way in which they control descriptions of their candidates. The problem common to many Liberal Democrat candidates is that they would like to add place names to their descriptions, the words ““focus team”” or a particular cause with which they are associated. Returning officers describe all these things as a considerable nuisance; they regard them as confusing the electorate. Local campaigners who wish to include in the description of the relevant local Liberal Democrat team the name of their area or the words of their local community newsletter or perhaps a political point feel it is a matter of freedom and democracy that they should have some discretion in this regard. The Electoral Commission is clearly concerned that we look to the lessons of the legislation introduced since 1998 and have some standardisation. The clause suggests that five descriptions may be sufficient for any party—there will be descriptions such as the Scottish Conservative Party, the Welsh Conservative Party, and so on. But Liberal Democrats consider five descriptions to be somewhat inadequate. The noble Lord, Lord Norton, suggests moving up to five and providing a list. But, as my party’s nominating officer, I have the job of providing any such list. Second-guessing the descriptions that thousands of Liberal Democrat candidates may wish to use in the election, submitting that list to the Electoral Commission and then checking that all the descriptions supplied to me are the same as the ones used around the country would be a rather difficult task. On that basis, I favour maximum flexibility. I see no purpose in restricting the numbers in this way, although I welcome the suggestion in Amendment No. 119 that you should not, for example, be able to describe yourself as the ““Conservative Shop at Sainsburys Party””. Perhaps another party would be more likely to say, ““To assist us to repay our loans, vote Labour and shop at Sainsburys”” or some similar description. I beg to move.