Straw has, according to Iain Dale and the Guardian, proposed to cap spending prior to the election campaign to £12,000. This follows much larger sums flowing into key marginals from central Tory funds.

£12k might sound quite a lot, but when you think that most constituencies have 60,000 voters, you can quickly see that actually it is a rather small sum to run a year-round leafletting campaign for nearly two years.

By comparison, sitting MPs are given a government allowance of £10,000 each year to communicate with their constituents.

I’m certainly in favour of a level playing field, but Labour’s cap plan is basically a way of favouring incumbents, as sitting MPS are given a handout. Which are largely Labour of course.

The whole thing smacks of desperation. It seems to me that it can only backfire in the long run, as Labour look more and more like losing the election, and will then be the victim of their restrictions.

What I am certain about is that Green challenges in Brighton, Norwich and Lewisham would not be hit as badly as the Tories.

In the end, democracy depends on talking to voters, face to face, which costs nothing. This is something both Labour and the Tories have largely forgotten.

So while these sort of rules might create inconvenience for us, and load spending in favour of unpopular Labour MPs, I am certain that we will be able to campaign and win.