PARLIAMENTARY DEBATES - United Kingdom Parliament

1513 26 MARCH 2013 UK Elected Representatives 1514
(Disclosure of Party Membership)
UK Elected Representatives (Disclosure of
Party Membership)
Motion for leave to bring in a Bill (Standing Order
No. 23)
2.44 pm
Mr David Hanson (Delyn) (Lab): I beg to move,
That leave be given to bring in a Bill to require individuals
standing for elected office in the United Kingdom of Great
Britain and Northern Ireland to declare any political party of
which they are a member when registering to stand; and for
connected purposes.
The purpose of the Bill is simple. If enacted, it would
mean that citizens who stand for elected office in the
United Kingdom, whether in the European Parliament,
the House of Commons, the Welsh Assembly, the Scottish
Parliament or a county, district, town or community
council, would have to declare any registered political
party membership that they hold at the time that they
submit their nomination papers.
The Bill would apply to all of us. Those like myself
and the many hon. Members in the Chamber today
who are open about their political party membership
will have no problem with the Bill. It will confirm to
electors what they already know about us as candidates.
Those who are genuinely independent of party membership,
such as yourself, Mr Speaker, will equally have no
problem with the Bill, because they too will be declaring
what the public already know. The Bill is aimed at greater
transparency for those who stand under the banner of
an independent, but who are allied to a political party
to the extent that they are a member of it.
The genesis of the Bill goes back some time. When I
was first elected to my local council—amazingly, it was
30 years ago in May—I noticed that a genial independent
councillor who was elected in a very Tory ward always
voted and spoke with Labour. When I asked him about
it, he confessed that he was a member of the Labour
party, but that he stood as an independent as he would
“never have been elected as Labour”.
I did not think that that was fair then and I do not think
that it is fair now. Democracy is surely about people
knowing what they are voting for, as far as is practicable.
My interest in this issue was rekindled last year during
the police and crime commissioner elections, particularly
in my area of north Wales. A number of candidates
stood for the post, including Labour, Conservative, UK
Independence party and independent candidates. One
of the independent candidates for the post was Winston
Roddick QC. He was the successful candidate and is
now operating as the police commissioner for north
Wales. May I say at this point that I wish him well in
that post and hope that he does a good job? My
concerns are solely about transparency in the election.
I knew of Mr Roddick before he became an independent
candidate. He was a well respected senior civil servant
in the Welsh Assembly and had twice been a Liberal
parliamentary candidate. He was and still is a member
of the Liberal Democrats, and yet he put himself forward
under the banner of an independent before 500,000
voters in north Wales. That point was raised during the
election, but it did not receive a high profile—nor, dare
I say it, did the election itself. He received 25,175 votes
on the first ballot on a turnout of less than 15% and
36,688 votes on the second and final ballot, and was
elected.
Interestingly, by comparison, the Liberal Democrats
have never received more than 18,000 votes for
the north Wales region in the four Assembly elections,
which have had much bigger turnouts. Indeed, in 2011,
they got just 11,000 votes on a 40% turnout, compared
with Mr Roddick’s 25,000 votes when he stood as an
independent. I contend, therefore that not having a
party label helped his cause. The feedback afterwards
included a tweet from a constituent of mine, which said:
“I voted for Winston Roddick thinking he was independent
and it now turns out he’s a liberal.”
In that case, the winner has said that he will not take
the whip. However, my contention is that it is very
strange and a little unnerving that a fully paid-up party
member can stand as an independent without resigning
their membership and not be open about the values that
they hold. Mr Roddick says that he was open about his
candidature. In that case, I hope that he will support the
aims of the Bill.
What happened in north Wales is not unique. In the
police and crime commissioner election in Devon and
Cornwall, a former chairman of the Devon and Cornwall
police authority and head of the Liberal Democrat
group on the Association of Police Authorities stood as
an independent. Again, there might be good reasons for
that—dare I say it, but the public might not want to
vote for a Liberal Democrat—but the point is that the
individual was a member of the Liberal Democrats.
Indeed, I checked the website today, and he is still the
leader of the Liberal Democrats on his local council,
having not stood as an independent in that election.
The situation in the City of London corporation is
the same, with most current councillors sitting as
independents, despite being members of political parties.
Only last week, an election was held for it, and although
some candidates stood with party labels, many stood as
independents, even though they had party cards in their
back pockets. One independent winner is an officeholder
of the City of London Conservative association.
It could be worse. I do not think any of us would be
comfortable with the idea of members of parties such
as the British National party and others being able to
stand as independents and have people vote for them as
independents in good faith. In my own constituency in
2004, an individual was elected as an independent, but
two years later, when the BNP’s membership was leaked,
it turned out that he was a member. I am sure that the
voters who put faith in him then might not have done so
had they known his party allegiance. Across the country
there will very shortly be elections where people will be
standing as party members, but also as independents,
and it is important that we have clarity and transparency
on those issues.
For those who worry about the potential infringement
of civil liberties, let me be clear about what the Bill does
not do. It does not prevent anyone from standing for
election or from calling themselves an independent. It
does not even prevent people from standing as independent
despite being party members. It will, however, inject
transparency into the system, so that no one can ever
stand again as an independent, be in a party and not
declare it. There is nothing wrong with being an independent
councillor or MP. It is not my choice, but there is
nothing wrong with it. It is deeply worrying, however,
that people can stand as independent, despite having a
party membership card in their back pocket. It presents