Balance At Last

At every General Election, the battle between the Tories and the Lib Dems in the West Country makes the difference between a majority government and a hung Parliament. So far as I can tell, that battle has never received the lightest national media attention. Perhaps it will after last night. But then again, probably not.

Those complaining that this circus was unbalanced are of course correct. If we must have such events at all, then any party contesting every seat in the United Kingdom should be on them. No one else should be. Nor should anyone else be entitled to Party Election Broadcasts and so forth, as everyone who met this criterion should be.

At constituency level, the deposit should be replaced with a requirement of nomination by five, or possibly ten, per cent of registered voters in the constituency, and every candidate thus nominated paid out of public funds the maximum sum allowable as expenditure.