§ Lord Clement-Jones asked Her Majesty's Government:
§ Whether they have any plans to postpone the election of the London mayor and assembly.
§ The Parliamentary Under-Secretary of State, Department of the Environment, Transport and the Regions (Lord Whitty)No, my Lords. The Government intend the Greater London Authority election to be held on 4th May, as planned. We therefore laid a slightly modified set of election rules on 23rd February, and plan today to re-lay the election expenses order.
§ Lord Clement-JonesMy Lords, I thank the Minister for that Answer. However, is it not clear that these problems would not have arisen if the Government had not tried, in the words of my noble friend Lord McNally, to "fix and fiddle" the London election? Is it not the case that a freepost is what 5 million Londoners want, and should have?
§ Lord WhittyMy Lords, as the name of the noble Lord, Lord McNally, has been mentioned, I offer my congratulations to him on being able to recite the second verse of "The Red Flag" on radio yesterday. I mention that because he, too, is familiar with fixing and fudging. If we were trying to fix and fudge the Greater London election, we have not made a very good job of it! Our concern throughout has been that all candidates should have a level playing field and that the process should not be subject to abuse. Therefore, as I explained at some length the other day, we are looking to ensure that candidates can get their message across without opening up the process to abuse and vast expenditure. We are in discussion with the other parties on the way in which that can be achieved. I believe that when we consider the Representation of the People Bill tomorrow, all parties will concur that we have found a way out of the difficulty.
§ Lord Pilkington of OxenfordMy Lords, would not the Minister like to encourage independence I say that without prejudice—and, therefore, does he agree that the lack of a free mailshot places enormous power in the hands of the party machine, both mine and his? Would not the noble Lord like to encourage independents to stand for election as mayor, both in London and in other cities?
§ Lord WhittyMy Lords, I fear that if I were quoted as saying that I wished to encourage independents, it 318 might well be misconstrued at this point! We want anyone who has the requisite number of signatures and who is prepared to run a proper political campaign for the post of mayor to have access to all means of communication with the public. We believe that we shall find a way of doing that which does not lead to the kind of abuse about which I was worried.