Political Parties and Elections Bill

I have heard the hon. Gentleman make that point before, but he is wrong on two grounds. First, it is a question not only of whether there is an absolute increase in the volume of spending, electoral cycle over electoral cycle; it is also about what takes place within the electoral cycle. We have seen a number of consequences in how we fund party politics, one of which is that we bunch the spending into the last dash for growth at national level, and that, in itself, is not necessarily a healthy part of the democratic process. Secondly, there has been a consequence at local level: a massive concentration of intense spending. In some constituencies, candidates are outspending their opponents by factors of eight to one. That might be a matter of party difference, but anyone who examines this matter objectively can see that it is not healthy for the body politic. The arms race exists at national level between the parties over different parts of the electoral cycle and it is intense at local level. Increasingly, our elections are no longer about democratic choice among the whole population; things are concentrated on those who live in the marginal seats deemed to influence elections. My hon. Friend the Member for Battersea mentioned Lord Ashcroft's claim that 25 of the 33 seats that changed hands were among the 41 on which he spent money, and that shows, as he himself concluded, that money perhaps begins to talk. That is a dangerous and unhealthy trend. I wish to spend a few moments discussing that kind of spending. The American experience tells us that the correlation between high spending levels and campaigning is that high levels of spending are increasingly associated with negative campaigning; it is not about the positive establishment and advocacy of ideas, values and policies, but about doing down the other—that applies at local level in particular. Local campaigning is in grave danger of being turned entirely into that form of negative campaigning, and that would be a disaster for our political process. All hon. Members ought to take that point seriously and question where we are going. The plethora of funding structures that make that situation possible might be advantageous for individuals—I am in a happy position, because neither Lord Ashcroft nor the golfing associations would be interested in my seat and that perhaps gives me a sense of relaxation personally—but constituents, including mine, are entitled to dynamic politics fought by all political parties at local level. I do not take for granted constituents who are not in those marginal seats; nor should anybody else, including my party.