Will they meet the challenge?

Read their responses: [Ming Campbell] [Simon Hughes] [Chris Huhne]

We are asking the three contenders for leadership of the Liberal Democrats to sign up to the following statement:

If elected as leader, I will:

1. Ensure that both the Gender Balance Task Force and the Ethnic Minority Election Task Force receive the neccessary political support and financial resources in order to carry out their work in mentoring, training and supporting new parliamentary candidates;
2. Support the specific goals of at least 1 new black or minority ethnic MP and at least 40% of new MPs and 25% of the Parliamentary Party overall being female after the next General Election;
3. Wherever possible, personally support initiatives to ensure that the Liberal Democrat Parliamentary Parties are more reflective of British society.

In addition, we are asking them to answer the following questions:

1. What system would be your ideal way of making the Parliamentary Party more gender balanced? Do you support all women shortlists as a way of increasing the number of Lib Dem women MPs?
2. At the next Lib Dem conference in Harrogate, a motion has been proposed to set up an Ethnic Minority Election Task Force on a comparable basis to the Gender Balance Task Force. Will you personally be voting for this motion? What will you do to ensure greater representation of ethnic minorities within the Parliamentary Party?
3. 7 out of 12 Lib Dem MEPs are women, while 1 MEP is Asian. In 1999 the English party used “zipping” to ensure that 50% of candidates were women. In 2004 it used a quota system to ensure that at least 1 of the top 3 candidates of each regional list, and a third overall, had to be of either sex. How would you favour selecting candidates for the 2009 European Elections?
4. The Gender Balance Task Force has always struggled with resources. In 2001 it was agreed that it should be given an annual budget of around £30,000, including the cost of a member of staff, but in practice it has never received this. Are you personally committed to ensuring that the Gender Balance Task Force receives greater funding than in the last Parliamentary cycle and that the Ethnic Minority Election Task Force is funded to a comparable degree? How do you propose ensuring that sufficient funds can be raised?
5. What positive steps have you personally taken to ensure that the Parliamentary Party is more reflective of wider society? What other things should the party be doing in general to encourage diversity?

The three responses have now been published on this website.