Electoral Commission wants diverse candidates
Your piece by Chris Moncrieff ('˜Chancellor faces daunting balancing act on budget day,' November 21) suggests that the Electoral Commission 'wants to see a [House of] Commons picked by quotas'; 'wants to change the way people vote, in some basis on the basis of the colour of their skin'; and has 'nefarious plans for social engineering'.
I am disappointed by the misleading nature of your correspondent’s reporting as the Commission has never come close to suggesting such things.
What we do believe, as we set out in our recent report Standing for Office in 2017, is that a diverse and representative range of candidates is important to the health of democracy, and that there should be no unreasonable barriers to anyone wishing to stand for election.
Claire Bassett, Chief Executive, The Electoral Commission