Political Parties and Elections Bill

There was self-evidently a consensus up to and including the passage of the 2000 Act. Everybody believed that the trigger arrangements in the Representation of the People Act 1983 would continue through the passage and implementation of the Act. That is clear beyond peradventure. Lord Neill said that his proposals were designed to buttress the arrangements in the 1983 Act. That was also the view of both Ministers and the Conservative Opposition. Indeed, I regret the fact that we did not accept the amendment from the late Lord Mackay. Secondly, Sir Hayden Phillips refers on page 15 of his report to the concerns, which were expressed by some parties but not others, about the lacunae, as it were, in the current arrangements. He says that he takes such concerns seriously, discusses how to deal with them and then says:"““The parties will need to consider carefully what level of local control is necessary to realise their commitment to limit campaign spending as a whole.””" If we had found a consensus in favour of comprehensive and continuous spending caps, the trigger would not be necessary. However, I suggest to the House—I hope that we can achieve a consensus on this—that the trigger is necessary and appropriate. I do not for the life of me understand quite why it should arouse such controversy, given that everybody accepted that it was there before.