Chris Huhne has signed 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.

I am enthusiastic about these pledges, and fully support them.

If you agree with Chris, register your support by going here.

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?

I have made the equalities issue – for women, ethnic minorities and the gay community – a key priority of my campaign. I was the only candidate to mention the problem at the first hustings at the London School of Economics, and I was proud that exactly half of the parliamentarians who backed me at first were women including Sandra Gidley, Lynne Featherstone and Susan Kramer. They know I care. My partner is a professional woman, and I know at first hand all the difficulties of a time-pressured working couple trying to share the responsibilities for a family. I am deeply committed to helping the enormous talent we have among women members be properly reflected in parliament. I will make it clear to every constituency Chair and selection panel in the country by contacting them personally that it is essential to see able and capable women selected to run for Parliament. I will also encourage women in all areas of the party so that we bring on a large pool of candidates. I will ensure that progress at each stage – applications to be a candidate, training, selection and support for election – is reported to me regularly. We have a mechanism for equality for our party committees, but not yet for our parliamentary seats. If leadership and persuasion fail, then I will ask the party to consider introducing similar mechanisms - the one third rule, zipping or clustering – to those for party committees. We must do whatever is necessary to deliver our talented women to parliament.

I will also examine the resources - both financial and human - that are put into seats where women are selected. A full on campaign in the right seats can also deliver a victory. I will launch a new program to support women in seats like Hornsey & Wood Green, where Lynne Featherstone overcame a majority of 26,000 in two elections. We need to spot those seats and work with the candidates to make them winnable. It is not always the case that women can go to a winnable seat far away for selection - particularly if they have children. Therefore a program of identifying seats and supporting talented women willing to invest their time and energy in those seats is a completely new initiative which can really deliver. Remember too that electoral reform is important to fair representation, as parties have an incentive to run candidates from all groups within their support.

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?

I will vote for the motion, and I am committed to the whole equalities agenda not just the promotion of women. As I made clear in the first hustings, it is a constant embarrassment that our party, which represents the hopes of so many members of the ethnic minorities, has failed to retain an ethnic minority parliamentarian in the House of Commons. I will work to encourage candidates to come forward, to ensure that they are selected in winnable seats, and that they have the resources and the professional backing to win. I have mentioned already one excellent precedent in Lynne’s victory in Hornsey and Wood Green: that template should apply as much to ethnic minorities as to women.

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?

The system of selection adopted for the 2004 European elections worked well to deliver more diversity in the European parliamentary party. Indeed, the proportion of women is now even higher than in 2004 or 1999. However, there will be a number of retirements from the European Parliament due to dual mandates next time, and we need to consider the implications of this to ensure that the gender and ethnic balance is at least as fair as it is now.

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?

It is crucial that the gender balance task force and the ethnic minority task force are properly funded. One of my key priorities as leader would be raising much more money early in the parliament for our campaigning through to the general election, and I regard the equalities agenda as a key part of the changes necessary to make us a modern and campaigning party.

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?

I have always encouraged women and ethnic minority candidates, and I have given practical support in target and development seats when I was MEP for the South East. The most important role a leader can play is in setting a clear direction and clear priorities, and backing that up with persuasion and cajoling. I would personally encourage people to come forward as candidates by helping to “head hunt” the best prospects, and then backing them with advice, support and resources when selected. I would urge my parliamentary colleagues to do the same.