On candidates
Sir, Others have already commented at length on the causes and significance of Uxbridge and Sutton, and I feel no call to join them; however there is a side issue which should perhaps be considered — the vast surplus of right wing independents at Uxbridge.
I am not in favour of raising the election deposit — partly because I hope to stand again as a Scottish Nationalist in my home constituency or some other, and mainly because I think rationing by price Will not exclude the wealthy crackpot or his men of straw, but will discourage candidates with something valid to say.
But I think there is an unanswerable case for a very substantial increase in the declared support which a candidate must have before he can stand. Currently a proposer, a seconder and eight assenters are enough to put him on the ballot paper. I would suggest raising the number of assenters to 48, 98 or 148 depending on the size of constituency. In a small constituency (electorate under ' 35,000) a candidate would therefore have to find 50 local people who are prepared to stand up and be counted. Here I would need 100; where the electororate exceeds 75,000, as at Billericay, 150 supporting names would be required. A further requirement, in constituencies which are physically very large but have a normal-sized or even a small electorate, should be a certain geographical distribu tion of declared supporters. Thus anybody standing in Western Isles might be required to find at least twenty of his names in the Catholic islands (Benbecula, South Uist, Eriskay and Barra) and twenty in the protestant islands (Lewis, Harris, North Uist) the total required being fifty; similarly, twenty each from Orkney and Shetland would be required for Northern Isles; here the requirement might be twentyfive each from Roxburghshire, Selkirkshire and Peeblesshire, with the remaining twenty-five drawn from wherever the prospective candidate finds them.
Any candidate who can meet these requirements should be considered as fairly serious and I see no need to demand a higher deposit. A candidate who can achieve twice these figures, still having regard to rules of geographical distribution where they apply (i.e. fifty names from each of the three counties in Central Borders as well as a total of 200) is clearly very serious and the deposit could be waived in his or her case.
There might also be some advantage in an actual limitation of numbers on the following basis: Tories, Labour and Liberals would have a prescriptive right to nominate candidates everywhere; and Nationalists throughout Scotland. Wales and Northern Ireland. Ac ceptance of other nominations would be on the first-come firstserved principle, with an upper limit of five in any one constituency, including the recognised parties. Once five candidates have lodged their nomination papers and deposits the list would be closed.
To prevent abuse of this arrangement, e.g. by students trying to block a National Fronter, or right wingers wishing to stymie a Communist, there would be a heavy penalty for withdrawal once papers have been lodged — perhaps five times the deposit. Alternatively, and perhaps better still, candidates should be required to make a statutory declaration on oath that they are genuinely seeking election. Withdrawal or failure to campaign would then lay them open to criminal prosecution.
Anthony J. C. Kerr 52 Castlegate, Jedburgh, Scotland
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