English Party members eligible to vote in the European selections for the 2009 European Parliament elections are being emailed today by Jonathan Davies, the Senior Returning Officer, with three key website links:
(The Scottish and Welsh European selections are being carried out at a latter date).
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25 Comments
I thought that starting from 2009 elections*, the House of Lords/MEPs dual role would have not been allowed anymore..so why is Sarah Ludford standing in London again?
*Council Decision 2002/772/EC
http://www.fco.gov.uk/Files/kfile/CM6093.pdf
AIUI Because she may be able to resign her Lords seat by the time the elections come around and would then be qualified. It will only be a disqualification at the point of nomination.
There is at least one other person in that position on the list (Robin Teverson)
“Because she may be able to resign her Lords seat by the time the elections come around”
is she practically hoping for an House of Lords reform between now and 2009?
“It will only be a disqualification at the point of nomination.”
wouldn’t it be a disqualification at the point a of election? (aka you can stand but you can’t be elected)
It depends on how UK law received the UE decision (which I can’t recall, actually I haven’t checked)
“(aka you can stand but you can’t be elected)”
Not unless somethings changed from the previous situation as a result (which was you could be a candidate if not disqualified)
HoL reform isn’t the only option, there could be a Viscount Stansgate type act or a challenge to either this law or the one which prevents Life Peers resigning.
This is not particularly new – in 2004 a candidate was selected when under 21 – so the principle – selecting a candidate who might later become qualified is established. (she actually couldn’t stand as she became 21 between nominations and polling day from what I remember)
“(which was you could be a candidate if not disqualified)”
ok, thanks
“HoL reform isn’t the only option, there could be a Viscount Stansgate type act or a challenge to either this law or the one which prevents Life Peers resigning”
ok, thanks. It would make sense
“This is not particularly new – in 2004 a candidate was selected when under 21 – so the principle – selecting a candidate who might later become qualified is established”
ok, thanks. I didn’t know (LD Eurp selection and the age hopefuls wasn’t among my interests at the time 😉 )
Do the candidates know this hasbeen launched? I’m a bit surprised that some of the websites don’t appear to be live.
Yup, they were informed in advance, though as the page itself explains some may be waiting till next week before turning on their sites.
I am surprised that of the 11 London candidates only 5 list websites, and only 1 of those works. Well done that candidate!
Not a single BME candidate on the London list.
Disappointing.
I am surprised that of the 11 London candidates only 5 list websites, and only 1 of those works. Well done that candidate!
And the one that works is ugly. I suspect that Jonathan’s is deliberately blank until campaign start, but some of the others *shudders*
It costs virtually nothing to register your name as a domain, and have everything you need for your current activites there, build up PR and presence. People, especially wannabe candidates, will hopefully at some point learn this.
So practically Emma Nicholson is the only sitting MEP retiring, right?
fx Mark – “in advance” in this case means the day before!
Damn HTML – their was a cough after fx in pointy brackets…
Ducann – at least one of the messages I saw certainly was sent more than a day in advance.
If a candidate is saying they only got 24 hours notice it sounds like they’ve missed out on some information.
Assuming your comment is based on a particular candidate’s experience, it might be worth getting them to get in touch with Jonathan to ensure that the right contact details are being used for communications with them about the process?
No, it is on more than one candidates experience, in more than one region, and the contact details are correct.
Andrea – yes (which may explain the enthusiasm over the SE selection compared to the “number of seats + one” selections in several regions!)
All candidates were sent by their Regional Returning Officer around the 15th August (the precise time differed from Region to Region) guidance on the Selection Campaign which said that on 24th August I would send an email to all members with details of the Campaign and a link to a web site with candidates’ details, and at the same time they were asked for contact details and told that the Party would be putting a list of all shortlisted candidates plus such contact details as they wish to supply on the Party’s web site
Jonathan Davies
Senior Returning Officer
Regardless of who was told what and when you’d think that 48 hours later candidates would have got their sites up even if they weren’t on Friday!
I am aware of candidates who had planned for others to complete their web pages this weekend for the campaign launch date.
I’d like to answer Andrea’s question ‘why is Sarah Ludford standing in London again?’
The short answer is because I can and I want to! The technical answer is that while the EU law banning simultaneous membership of a national as well as the Euro-parliament does indeed come into force for the UK in 2009, the government accepts that it has an obligation to ensure that peers can be freed to stand for election as MEPs in 2009.
One route would of course be through wholesale Lords reform, and thus the February 2007 white paper had a specific mention of resolving this problem. But if comprehensive reform does not happen in time, the government’s intention is to have a specific piece of legislation to enable peers elected to the European Parliament to put aside their Lords membership.
Obviously we in the Liberal Democrats are carrying out reselection 2 years ahead of the Euro-election. But what is important is the election timetable of the European Parliament and thus the focus is on having the necessary changes in place before nominations close in 2009.
The party has ruled that in these circumstances peers can stand/restand for selection (and as was mentioned, Robin Teverson is also doing so). If by any chance there is no ‘liberation’ of peers by the time of nominations in 2009, then internal disruption would in any case be avoided since there would simply be a recount to determine who should replace any peers on the list and how the list should be re-ordered if necessary. The ruling adds that in any such recount no candidates will be moved down the list as a result of the recount, but candidates may be overtaken by candidates in a lower position.
I hope that makes things clear, but please do contact me if you wish.
Sarah Ludford
[email protected]
http://www.sarahforlondon.org
The following is the full text of the ruling which appeared in the Selection Advert:
“Members of the UK Parliament (House of Commons and House of Lords) are legally ineligible to be candidates for membership of the European Parliament. MPs may seek selection on the condition that prior to nomination day for the European Parliamentary elections, they resign their seat. Peers may not under current UK law resign their peerages but that may change if House of Lords reform proceeds. Peers may seek selection on the condition that prior to nomination day for the European Parliamentary elections, they resign their peerage if that becomes possible. If it continues to be impossible for Peers to resign their peerages then they cannot be candidates for the European Parliamentary elections. In that event, prior to the election (at a time to be determined by the Party’s Nominating Officer) a recount will take place to determine who should replace any Peers on the list and how the list should be re-ordered if necessary. In any such recount no candidates will be moved down the list as a result of the recount, but candidates may be overtaken by candidates in a lower position.”
Jonathan Davies
Senior Returning Officer
http://younggirlclub.com/articles/girls_not_grey.html girls not grey
Can you get rid of this last blog- 24, ASAP!
Whos’moderating this??
Can you get rid of this last blog- 22, ASAP!
Whos’moderating this??
If no BME candidate for London, that’s hugely disappointing (Mark Pack’s link leads to an error page when I click on it, but gI guess glitches happen when folk try and impart news early, so am not whinging).
We seem to have more of a problem now on BMEs than on women candidates.
On the upside, we seem to be getting (slightly) better at selecting women.
Sarah’s nomination certainly DOESN’T contradict the application process either.
We should be pressing for exclusion from one major parliamentary chamber if you’re a member of another. But I’d be very surprised if Sarah doesn’t agree with this. The House of Lords is a major anomaly, but I haven’t heard many (any?) of our LibDem peers argue otherwise.