Minority candidates in Cumbria are fighting for the right to smoke cannabis, radical socialism, and a hard line on Europe. They add colour to the campaign, but are they just a wasted vote?

It was a manifesto launched less in a blaze of publicity than in a haze of sweet-smelling smoke.

Three Cumbrian candidates from the Legalise Cannabis Alliance (LCA) gathered outside a house in Raffles yesterday to set out their stall for the General Election.

It's been a good week for the -minority parties, with Carlisle Socialist Alliance (SA) candidate Paul Wilcox having a similarly frugal launch on Monday.

Then came news that farmer Tom Lowther (UK Independence Party) will stand alongside independent John Moffat in Penrith and the Border against incumbent Tory David Maclean.

The question is - does any of it matter?

The minority parties' traditional role is to add a bit of colour and use the campaign to get their views a wider audience - not to affect the outcome.

But with political apathy at an all--time high, could 2001 be a year for the lesser lights to shine?

Mr Wilcox, for one, believes he will profit from offering a radical alternative to the growing number of people who would not otherwise vote.

Chief among these are the young, with Mori predicting that fewer than one in three people able to vote for the first time will do so.

Mr Wilcox admits young people have become apolitical, but believes that is a result of a growing centre-right consensus that leaves them cold.

That's why he has no qualms about taking most of his votes - as seems likely - from Labour in a ward the Conservatives genuinely believe they can win.

"To my mind there is no difference between them," he says.

Mr Wilcox's official position is that he is "fighting to win", but he admits his long-term aim is to gather momentum for the next Carlisle City Council elections.

Winning seats then does seem a realistic goal after he managed 305 votes, or 25 per cent of the total, in a by-election in Botcherby last year.

And for the SA - who would stop privatisation and raise the minimum wage to £7.40 an hour - crosses in boxes are not the bottom line. "Issues and ideas are more important that votes," says Mr Wilcox. "If I can change one persons thinking I will consider it an achievement."

Even if they can persuade people to accept their policies, minority parties have to make do without the financial muscle of the big three.

That means no campaign posters and virtually no interest from the national press.

For Mr Wilcox and LCA candidate Colin Paisley, that means trying to get round 35,750 households in Carlisle virtually single-handed.

Compare their efforts to the well-oiled Conservative machine, which managed to deliver thousands of leaflets in the city on the evening the election was announced.

The LCA and the UK Independence Party also have to overcome scepticism about "single issue" parties.

While the latter claim to produce a balanced manifesto, the LCA accept many who support the legalisation of cannabis will not vote for them because - put bluntly - they would not have the first idea how to govern.

The performance of single issue parties may hinge on getting reluctant or non-voters excited about a cause.

And the LCA have in their armoury not only government figures showing five million cannabis users in the UK, but a local trump card - Lezley Gibson.

Ms Gibson, wife of Penrith and the Border candidate Mark, was found not guilty of possessing cannabis last year despite freely admitting she smoked the drug.

A jury refused to convict her because they accepted she needed cannabis to control the symptoms of her MS.

Now she is drumming up support for the campaign.

Mr Gibson, along with fellow candidates Mr Paisley and John Peacock (Workington), claims there is enough theoretical support for

recreational as well as medicinal cannabis use for the LCA to do well.

The only argument the prohibitionists have left is how do you stop children getting cannabis," he says. "My answer is they already are, and controlled supply is better than letting them use a dealer who could introduce them to anything."

The Electoral Reform Society claims the region's four constituencies each has a majority of more than 10,000 which means they are already foregone conclusions and turnout is likely to be low.

But that attitude may actually help the minor parties with people more likely to register "protest votes".

Mr Lowther, a farmer standing on a Eurosceptic and anti-foot and mouth cull ticket, concedes he would probably get fewer votes if incumbent Tory David Maclean was less well placed to retain his seat.

And unlike the other minor party candidates, he admits furthering a narrow political agenda - forcing the Conservatives to harden their line on Europe is "probably" one of his goals.

He says: "If the Conservatives were prepared to change their stance on Europe then perhaps we would not need to stand."

But Mr Lowther is also standing as a local man who feels the needs of Cumbria have been ignored by Westminster during - and before - foot and mouth.

He points to the lack of Treasury recovery cash for rural businesses and the consensus that the country should "kill its way out of the crisis" rather than considering vaccination.

And that's what all the Cumbrian minor candidates have in common this year - a desire to target specific issues they feel are off the national agenda.

Unlike Martin Bell, who as an Independent took Tatton from sleaze-row Tory Neil Hamilton, they are not fighting for victory.