Political Parties and Elections Bill

My Lords, I must first of all apologise on behalf of my noble friend Lord Steel of Aikwood. He was here earlier; unfortunately, the timing has coincided with a very important occasion to commemorate the foundation of the Anti-Apartheid Movement, of which he was a founder member. Not many people can still say that. He is very sorry not to be here to move the amendment on the Marshalled List in his name and mine. This is a particular issue that has arisen recently, and I hope the Government are going to be able to give us some guidance on how to deal with it. The description of candidates on a ballot paper has, on two specific occasions recently, been used not to inform the electorate of the status of the candidate, but effectively to put propaganda on the ballot paper. The first example was in Scotland, where certain candidates put "Alex Salmond for First Minister" on the ballot paper as their description—which was clearly completely outwith the intentions of the regulations, but was permitted. Similarly, and more recently, the BNP put on the ballot paper against candidates not a description of the party, but a slogan: "Protecting British Jobs". In both cases, there will, I think, be widespread recognition around the House that this is a deliberate distortion of the intention of the ballot paper, which is intended to be entirely factual—nothing to do with propaganda or slogans. My noble friend Lord Steel has, with the assistance of the authorities of the House, produced a way in which this problem can be dealt with; that is incorporated in Amendment 76A. My noble friend Lord Steel left with me a number of cuttings, which I think at this point in the evening I shall forbear to use, because his reading matter ranges from the Sunday Times to Private Eye. Members of your Lordships’ House do not need to be told what either of those august journals think of the way in which the BNP, in particular, has used the electoral system to promote its policies. However, there is a very serious point here, and it was addressed in the Gould report on the Scottish elections of 2007. It was quite clear in that election that there was real confusion in Scotland as a result of the way in which the ballot paper had, in my view and the view of my noble friend, been misused. It may be that the Minister this evening may not be able to accept the amendment in its present form, despite the assistance of the authorities of the House. But I hope the Minister will accept that there is a real problem here, and something needs to be done. I beg to move.