Bungling MPs breaking online campaign laws

The nub of the matter is the use of political titles in online campaigns.

Providing yet more evidence that Britain's first 'e-lection' may still be some years away, many candidates standing for re-election are still using the title 'MP' in web addresses - a practice contrary to Electoral Commission guidelines.

MPs were warned before Parliament was dissolved to make sure references to their political position were removed, or to keep campaign material off their constituency websites.

"Websites which say MP shouldn't be used for campaigning," a spokeswoman for the Commission said. "They should set up a separate one."

But MPs from both sides of the House have bungled their online presence by leaving references to their position in the domain name of campaign sites.

A spokesman for Conservative candidate Nigel Evans (http://www.nigelmp.com ) explained that the address shouldn't matter because the site was re-branded 'Elect Nigel'.

"Well, we hope he'll still be an MP afterwards anyway," the spokesman added.

According to Dr Stephen Coleman, director of the Hansard Society's e-democracy programme, most MPs don't know they even have websites, let alone how to change them. "As of last Friday, MPs should have changed their sites," he said, "and most of them will."

Some of the more web-savvy candidates have created brand new sites for the campaign trail. The shadow Home Secretary's 'Widdy Web' which uses 'MP' in its domain address has been superceded by http://www.electannwiddecombe.com .

Other candidates, including Home Office minister Charles Clarke, have taken the more dramatic - but less effective - step of taking websites offline altogether.

Despite the breaches in electoral netiquette, formal action is unlikely to be taken. The Electoral Commission is planning to review the rules for new media campaigning in its post-election report and firmer regulations are expected next time round.