MUNICIPAL ELECTIONS BILL. [H.L.] (Hansard, 16 September 1909)

§ LORD FARQUHAR

My Lords, the object of the Bill, the Second Reading of which I beg to move, is to extend to municipal elections the provisions of the Corrupt and Illegal Practices Prevention Act, 1895, by which a summary method is provided of punishing persons making false statements of fact, relating to the personal character or conduct of a candidate, for the purpose of affecting the result of the election. The Act of 1895 has worked very well and has proved very effective in stopping malicious calumnies about Parliamentary candidates, which were frequently circulated just before an election, too late to be contradicted. This Bill proposes to extend this protection to municipal candidates. So important are the administrative powers which are now wielded by municipalities that it has become essential to secure the purity of municipal elections, that they should be honourably conducted on public and not on private issues, and that the 1231 candidates should be protected from false statements affecting their character and conduct. Against such false statements the municipal candidate has at present no remedy except an action for slander, in which it is generally necessary to prove special damage, and which would not be heard for months after the election. It is absolutely necessary that those who utter such slanders should be dealt with promptly, and the Bill provides a rapid and effective remedy by summary procedure under which offenders can be dealt with immediately and the circulation of the slanders stopped. It not only provides a remedy, but will act as a deterrent. The Bill constitutes the making or publishing of any such false statements an illegal practice which involves a penalty on summary conviction of a fine not exceeding £100, with incapacity for five years of being registered as an elector within the constituency, and in the case of an offence made with the knowledge or consent of a candidate, renders his election void. The Bill is non-controversial, and should receive the support and sympathy of all quarters of your Lordships' House.

§ THE LORD CHANCELLOR (LORD LOREBURN)

My Lords, I think this Bill is a most excellent proposal. The Corrupt Practices Act is confined to Parliamentary elections, and the purpose of it is to prevent cowardly and mean statements about the personal character of, or personally about, the candidate at any time during an election. Conduct of that kind is not common, I am glad to say, in this country; but cases not infrequently occurred, and the worst of it was that these lies were circulated just before the poll and when there was no opportunity for contradiction. The Act was passed when I was a member of the House of Commons, and there was a general feeling that mean conduct of that kind ought to be promptly stopped, and the Act was passed for that purpose. Its effect has been admirable in connection with Parliamentary elections, and there seems no reason why it should not be extended to municipal elections.