Barriers to entry

Speaking on Saturday at an Institute for Government event co-hosted with CentreForum at the Liberal Democrat annual conference, party chairman Tim Farron declared that the party had “failed” on diversity. At present, the Liberal Democrats have just 7 women MPs (this fell from 10 in 2010), and all 57 of the party’s MPs are white. As discussed in a new Institute for Government paper, the Liberal Democrats’ failure to improve the diversity of their MPs stands in stark contrast to Labour and the Conservatives. Labour’s ‘All Women’ Shortlists and David Cameron’s ‘A-List’ have both significantly increased the number of women and ethnic minority MPs. The Liberal Democrats however remain reluctant to go down this path. Positive discrimination runs counter to the principles of meritocracy and local party autonomy they hold dear. Positive action also seems unlikely to be as useful to the Liberal Democrats: these mechanisms work when parties adopt them in safe seats, a luxury the Liberal Democrats don’t have. The new Leadership programme, announced on Sunday evening by Nick Clegg will see a select group of 50 or so prospective candidates from under-represented groups receiving training, support and mentoring, and guaranteed a place on candidate shortlists in target constituencies. Party members will be under no obligation to select them, but party bigwigs hope that the programme will give these candidates the confidence and skills they need to get selected and then elected. Our own research shows that the biggest problem facing all three parties in terms of diversity is that too few candidates from under-represented groups put themselves forward in the first place. This problem is particularly acute for the Liberal Democrats. Even though the party imposes a gender balance quota designed to guarantee a minimum of both male and female candidates on every local party shortlists, however Jo Swinson MP, speaking at our event, explained that in practice the party ended up with all male shortlists in between 100-200 selections before the 2010 election due to a lack of aspirant women applying. Identifying, supporting and encouraging candidates from under-represented groups, and providing them with access to networks and resources, should improve the diversity of candidates next time round. Meanwhile mentoring from current MPs should help prepare them should they make it to Westminster, though the reality is that there will be few winnable seats up for grabs in 2015. The Leadership Programme also does not address one of the biggest issues that our report identified as perhaps the most significant barrier to a political career: cost. A survey of Conservative candidates in 2010 put the average cost of candidacy at £41,000, taking into account lost income, travel and childcare costs. That issue came up repeatedly at our fringe event. Tessa Munt MP told how she sold her house and quit her job to cover the costs of campaigning full-time for four years. Karen Hamilton, a local councillor and unsuccessful candidate in 2010 told how she couldn’t afford the cost of a conference ticket as she was still repaying debts from last year’s campaign. The solution to this problem may lie in the provision of public funding to help diverse candidates something the Speaker’s Conference on Parliamentary Representation recommended in 2010. Without it, diverse candidates may be unwilling to put themselves onto the Leadership Programme in the first place.