Electoral Administration Act 2006 (Regulation of Loans etc.: Northern Ireland) Order 2008

My Lords, my late friend Lord Williams of Mostyn was a class act and is much missed by the House. In this legislation we are seeking to catch Northern Ireland up with what currently happens in Great Britain. I love the phrase in my speech—I am trying to stick to the brief—which says that we now enjoy the benefit of donation and loans regulations. It was not always considered a benefit, but it was certainly found to be a necessity. From that point of view, there is a different experience in Northern Ireland. I do not have the title of the second order as it is not ready yet. There is still some drafting work to be done and some discussion to be had, although it is our intention to lay the Political Parties, Elections and Referendums Act 2000 (Northern Ireland Political Parties) Order 2008 as soon as we can. It is our intention for all the orders to be enforced by 1 July so there will be no undue delay and there will be plenty of time for debate in your Lordships’ House. It will therefore be laid as soon as possible after this first order is agreed by Parliament. This first order has of course already been through the other place—I think it was last week or the week before. We have also had the benefit of the donations legislation for Northern Ireland for a short period; it came into force last year. There is nothing for me to report from the Electoral Commission on using the new legislation. Procedures in that legislation prevent leakage from Northern Ireland to Great Britain’s political parties to prevent the brass-nameplate operations in Ireland being used as a front for money to the north. The rules about substantial functions of a business or other organisation are all there. There is also the citizenship issue. The noble Lord, Lord Laird, asked in a roundabout way—I think I have got his question right—whether UK citizens resident in Ireland can make donations to parties in Northern Ireland if they are on the UK electoral register. The answer is yes. If they are not, however, they cannot. That would count as a foreign donation because those are the rules; you must be on the electoral register. I was about to say that it is as simple as that, although from one or two cases that we have read about recently, people are learning from experience. There is this sensitive issue—I appreciate that—but the rules are quite clear; we are talking about Irish citizens. That was defined in the other legislation and it will be set out in some considerable detail in the second order that I will lay before the House.