Mark Pack

Government scraps plan to fund primaries for Westminster candidate selections

By | Wed 22nd December 2010 - 8:55 am

Michael Crick has the scoop about the ending of plans to fund open primaries:

A very senior Cabinet minister has told me that the Coalition has now scrapped its radical plans to pay for primary elections to choose party candidates in 200 safe seats.

The full Coalition Agreement last May said: “We will fund 200 all-postal primaries over this Parliament, targetted at seats which have not changed hands for many years.”

The money would have been allocated to parties which now have seats in Parliament, according to their shares of the vote in May 2010.

Primaries have been very controversial, so the need for the government to economise has provided a helpful supporting argument for those opposing them on grounds of principle.

Read more by or more about or .
This entry was posted in Election law.
Advert

3 Comments

  • g 22nd Dec '10 - 10:07am

    The Coalition Agreement is meaningless, isn’t it? Regardless of the merits of the proposal, it does add to the precedent of tuition fees in disregarding positions put to the electorate and party members.

  • tonyhill 22nd Dec '10 - 6:15pm

    Good! It was a stupid idea, and a Tory one. Now scrap the recall provision for MPs as well – populist rubbish.

Post a Comment

Lib Dem Voice welcomes comments from everyone but we ask you to be polite, to be on topic and to be who you say you are. You can read our comments policy in full here. Please respect it and all readers of the site.

To have your photo next to your comment please signup your email address with Gravatar.

Your email is never published. Required fields are marked *

*
*
Please complete the name of this site, Liberal Democrat ...?

Advert



Recent Comments

  • Brad Barrows
    Sunak and Javid may be hoping to salvage their reputations by choosing to distance themselves from the current PM…or they could be making their moves to be in...
  • Tristan Ward
    Time for a vote of no confidence to force tory MPs to declare their position on the record....
  • Mick Taylor
    I hope David Raw is tongue in cheek in his comments. He knows full well that LibDems in Scotland do not, in the main, support independence, though some do. Part...
  • Joseph Bourke
    The resignation of Sajid Javid and Rishi Sunak feels like the Geoffrey Howe moment that led to the resignation of Mrs Thatcher....
  • David Raw
    Question : “Should a late middle aged overweight male of untidy (and often unseemly) habits, exhibiting early signs of convenient memory loss, be regarded ...