Northampton

Prior to 1997 all the county seats were held by the Conservatives. Northampton North was seen as the swing seat in that election. If the swing had been uniform (which it never is) – winning Northampton North would have given Labour a majority in the House of Commons. It was therefore a centre of attention for Labour; the Conservatives – and the media. In fact five of the six seats fell to Labour. Kettering and Wellingborough were retaken by the Tories in 2005.

Northampton South was the real surprise of 1997. Tony Clarke became the Labour MP for the following two parliaments. He has subsequently broken with the Labour Party and has been an independent Councillor in Northampton. He could play a decisive role in the outcome of the 2010 election. The seat loses important affluent areas to the new constituency of Northamptonshire South. It will be treated as a notional Labour seat with a majority of 1,445 (3.78%). The current Conservative MP, Brian Binley faces Labour’s Clyde Loakes and the Liberal Democrat candidate Paul Varnsverry. Binley is a self-made businessman of Northamptonshire working class origin. The seat covers the centre and south of the older parts of Northampton as well as new estates in Ecton Brook and the Hunsburys.

Sally Keeble has represented the North Division since 1997 and had a majority of 3,960 in 2005. With boundary changes she is defending a notional majority of 3,340. It is the 80th most vulnerable Labour seat and 84 on the Tories target list. If this were the worst Labour loss, there would be a hung parliament with Labour and the Tories having almost exactly the same number of seats. The Tory candidate is Michael Ellis and the Liberal Democrat is Andrew Simpson.

Northampton North contains the wards of Abington; Boughton Green; Eastfield; Headlands; Kingsley; Kingsthorpe; Lumbertubs; Parklands; St David; & Thorplands.

Policies for the Election

The British news is dominated by the various announcements being made by the political parties about their policies. You can visit the main party websites via the links below

Labour

Conservative

Liberal Democrats

While these are the main national parties - there are many minor parties - and this election is likely to see a record number of independent candidates. At the weekend it was reported that there had been "a rallying call issued by Terry Waite, the former Lebanon hostage, to 300 independent candidates and activists in which he calls for reform of parliament in the wake of the expenses scandal. In a letter on behalf of the Independent Network, Mr Waite, who considered standing at the election, says he is 'gravely concerned about the political health of our country'".

In Scotland and Wales the nationalist parties (SNP and Plaid Cymru) will also be standing.

Note: New Statesman claimed last month that "Forming a viable government could well require negotiations with Esther Rantzen, Martin Bell and Terry Waite as well as Nick Clegg."

Comparing Constitutions

It is often said that the United Kingdom does not have a constitution. In a narrow sense that is true. There is no single document which codifies the major constitutional rules in the UK. Of course, in a wider sense, the UK does have a constitution - and it is written - but it is not to be found in one place. Statutes, reports of judgements in cases, conventions and other rules (such as the standing orders of each House of parliament) are where "the constitution" is to be found.

It would be a mistake to imagine that the US constitution is confined to The Constitution. Caselaw is important - and there are conventions which do control the behaviour of the political actors.

It is worth comparing the constitutions. What can we learn from each? What are the advantages and disadvantages of each system? How far are constitutional practices transferable?

Separation of powers has always been an aspect of the British system (Montesquieu used the British system as an example of separation of powers!). However it has always been limited. One of the most important developments of recent years has been a strengthening of the separation in the UK. The Lord Chancellor once played an active role in the highest Court (House of Lords judicial Committee), sitting as a judge - while - like all of the Judicial committee - being a member of the legislature (House of Lords). He was also a leading member of the Cabinet, a key body in the Executive. No longer - the Lord Chancellor has no role as a judge. The Supreme Court has been created, and the link to the House of Lords broken.

But has it gone far enough. Some argue, for example Graham Allen MP, that we need to move from a parliamentary system - to a complete separation of the Executive and Legislature.

What do you think? What lessons can be learned from your own system? Do share your views on Washminster.

Are By-Elections Obligatory?

With the death of David Taylor, there is a vacancy in the constituency of Leicestershire North West. A General Election must be held by 3rd June 2010 (in five months time, or 160 days after the seat became vacant). Must a by-election be held before that date?

The answer is very clearly NO. Erskine May states that "the Speaker may be ordered by the House, upon a motion made by any Member, to issue a warrant to the Clerk of the Crown for a new writ for the place represented by the Member whose seat is thus vacated"

The normal practice is that the Motion for a new Writ is moved by the Chief Whip of the party that formerly held the seat. However there is no obligation for him (it would be Nick Brown) to do so, and he does not enjoy the exclusive right to move the writ. The writ can be moved "by any Member". However such a motion could be defeated. A Factsheet from the House of Commons states that "The motion cannot be moved again (for the same constituency) within the same session of Parliament if it is defeated." It is usual to stop an attempt to move the writ by amending the motion to leave out from “That” to the end of the Question and add
“this House do pass to the Orders of the Day.” Such an amended motion would allow a later motion to move the writ.

This was last done on July 21st last year, in an attempt by the SNP to force the issuing of a writ to fill the seat formerly held by Michael Martin - Text of Hansard.

Failing to move the writ is frequently criticised by members of the parties who currently do not hold the seat. There was a recommendation by the Speaker's Conference on Electoral Law in 1973 that the motion should normally be moved within three months of a vacancy arising.

Michael Rush wrote a very interesting article on "The Timing of By-Elections" in the September 1973 edition of of Parliamentary Affairs (Vol. 27, No. 1973sep pp44-66). It deals with many aspects of the selection of dates up to 1973. It also reveals the extreme delays.

373 days - Wrekin. J Baldwin-Webb was lost at sea on 17th September 1940: legally presumed dead in April 1941: further delay caused by a dispute in the local Conservative Association over a successor: by-election held on 26th September 1941.

252 days - Newcastle-under-Lyme. Stephen Swingler died 19th February 1969: By-election held on 30th October 1969.

The diagram on this post shows the North West Leicestershire constituency - within the county of Leicestershire.

Happy New Year

2010 has now arrived across the world. May I wish a happy new year to all the regular, and to one-off visitors to this blog. As I have indicated in recent posts, 2010 promises to be a particularly interesting year.

Elections will dominate. I will be looking at some of the competitive races in both the British and American elections. The lastest estimates of competitive House of Representatives seats have been made by the leading analysys. CQ Politics reckons that 102 seats are competitive at the moment (70 Democrat held; 32 Republican held) The Rothenbery Political Report thinks there are 61 (47 Democrats; 14 Republican), while the Cook Political Report puts the figures at 49 competitive races (38 Democrat & 11 Republican).

As events in Congress have shown us - there are a lot of procedural tactics available for use in pushing forward/delaying legislation - and we'll be looking at them as they arise. With an election looming in the UK we may be innovative attempts to influence the speed of legislation in Britain too!

During the year I will be undertaking quite a bit of historical research - so I hope to share with you some of the stories from the development of the US Congress; UK Parliament and European Parliament.