In
British politics
The United Kingdom is a constitutional monarchy which, by legislation and Convention (norm), convention, operates as a Unitary state, unitary parliamentary democracy. A Hereditary monarchy, hereditary Monarchy of the United Kingdom, monarch, ...
, a prospective parliamentary candidate (PPC) is a
candidate selected by
political parties
A political party is an organization that coordinates candidates to compete in a particular area's elections. It is common for the members of a party to hold similar ideas about politics, and parties may promote specific ideological or p ...
to contest under individual
Westminster constituencies in advance of a
general election
A general election is an electoral process to choose most or all members of a governing body at the same time. They are distinct from By-election, by-elections, which fill individual seats that have become vacant between general elections. Gener ...
. The term originally came into use because of the strict limits on the maximum expenditure permitted to be incurred by an election candidate, regardless of whether the election had been formally called. The candidates were termed "prospective" because referring to them simply as a candidate would arguably trigger the moment when money spent to promote them would need to be included in their declaration of expenses after the election.
In 2004, however, the law was changed so that the trigger for election expenses being accountable was to be the calling of an election and not the announcing of a candidacy. Some political parties had already started to use terms such as "parliamentary spokesperson", believing that some voters were confused by the unusual word "prospective"; however, the older form of words continues to be widely used,
[See, for exampl]
Halesowen News, September 2008North Devon Gazette, September 2008
or th
Daily Post, September 2008
despite these changes in the law.
See also
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Electoral Commission (United Kingdom)
In the United Kingdom, the Electoral Commission is the national election commission, created in 2001 as a result of the Political Parties, Elections and Referendums Act 2000. It is an independent agency that regulates party and election fi ...
*
Presumptive nominee
Preselection is the process by which a candidate is selected, usually by a political party, to contest an election for political office. It is also referred to as candidate selection. It is a fundamental function of political parties. The presel ...
References
Elections in the United Kingdom
Political terminology in the United Kingdom
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