Candidates ‘priced out’ of parliament

Members of the public are priced out of standing for Parliament by the “huge personal cost” of being a candidate, a journalist has claimed. A survey of parliamentary candidates found that the average personal cost was £11,118 for all seats.

Costs included loss of earnings from leaving a job or reducing working hours to campaign.

Claims will be published in a book by Isabel Hardman, assistant editor at the Spectator.