The timetable for the election of the Mayor of London was thrown into doubt last night after the House of Lords defeated a government proposal that it should not pay the cost of campaign mail-shots for mayoral candidates.
The embarrassing defeat, which backed a Conservative motion calling for free mail-shots by 215 to 150 votes, means the government could be forced to go back to the drawing board on rules governing the mayoral election, which cannot go ahead until election rules are agreed. The government could opt for a compromise on the issue, that would see the main political parties sharing the cost of a mail-shot campaign.
Ahead of the vote in the Lords, the Minister for London, Mr Keith Hill, insisted the election was similar in political terms to a local election. He pointed out that because there was no provision for free mail-shots at local level, it should not have to pay costs of up to u £30 million to send out campaign leaflets free to 5 million voters in London.
But the Conservatives and Liberal Democrats argued the refusal to pay for free mail-shots was an attempt to "rig" the mayoral election because independent candidates such as Mr Ken Livingstone - if he were to stand - and small political parties would be unable to afford the huge cost involved. The deputy Conservative leader in the Lords, Lord Mackay, led the revolt and insisted the issue for the government was not about the cost of sending out leaflets, but was about keeping Mr Livingstone out of the race.
"If Ken would give them a cast-iron guarantee that he would not contemplate standing [as an Independent] and accept the Governor General-ship of New Zealand, or anywhere else, then I think the government might cave in," Lord Mackay said.
As the Lords threatened rebellion and with Mr Livingstone's position still undeclared, Labour renewed its campaign to convince the left-wing MP not to stand against its candidate Mr Frank Dobson. In a move calculated to put maximum pressure on the Mr Livingstone, the chair of the Labour Party, Mr Vernon Hince, released two letters written by the MP in which he categorically denied he would stand as an independent candidate.
In a letter dated January 7th, Mr Livingstone confirmed if Mr Dobson won the Labour candidacy "however narrowly" he would support his campaign for mayor. "I am also happy to state," he wrote, "that there are no circumstances in which I would leave the Labour Party and run as an independent candidate." Mr Hince wrote to Mr Livingstone yesterday urging him to "stop this damaging speculation" and support Mr Dobson.
Earlier, Downing Street rebutted speculation that Cabinet Office Minister and former Northern Ireland Secretary, Dr Mo Mowlam, was ready to step in if Mr Dobson stood down in the face of huge popular support for Mr Livingstone if he stood as an independent.
A Downing Street spokesman said there was only one official Labour candidate. "Mo Mowlam is supporting Frank Dobson to the hilt," he said. "Nobody is talking about another candidate."