Political Parties and Elections Bill

I think that the hon. Gentleman is talking about the political fund, which I should remind him was created by a Liberal Government, in the Trade Union Act 1913, not the Trade Union Act 1984. I am talking about the audit trail back to the individual contribution, where I believe there is a problem. I agree with the right hon. Member for Horsham that there are serious difficulties with how things work now. We have already heard from my hon. Friend the Member for Birmingham, Yardley (John Hemming) about his situation. I have here an application form to become a member of Unite that was sent to a member of my family. Nowhere in the application form is the political levy mentioned. We have in law an opting-out system, so there should at least be something in the application form that people can tick to say that they wish to opt out. However, that does not exist in this form. As far as I know, Unite is an affiliated union and has a political fund, according to the 1913 and 1984 Acts. Nevertheless, only someone who is very well informed about that sort of thing—perhaps a student of 1980s labour law or a student of Professor Keith Ewing—will know about the opportunities to opt out, unless they are set out in the form.