Prospective parliamentary candidate (PPC) is a term used in British politics to refer to candidates selected by political parties to fight individual constituencies in advance of a general election. This terminology was motivated by the strict limits on the amount of expenses incurred by an actual candidate - regardless of whether the election had been formally called. The candidates were termed 'prospective' so that any money spent to promote them would not come under the limit.
In 2004, however, the law was changed so that the limit on election expenses begins only once an election has been called. Some political parties had increasingly preferred terms such as "parliamentary spokesperson" on the basis that voters were confused by "prospective parliamentary candidate"; however, the latter formulation still continues to be widely used[1] despite these changes in the law.