Political Parties and Elections Bill

I agree, and I would go further. This relates to what I was saying earlier. In many respects we are in a much better position than in the 1990s, when there was no openness of a formal kind, no transparency and no regulation of political parties. Ten years on, we have vastly more compulsory transparency along with intricate regulation of political parties, yet the reputation of politics, far from being enhanced, has been diminished. I am still on the side of those who want to ensure that we get this right. I simply sound a warning, as have others. We must constantly bear in mind the problem that we are trying to deal with, and ensure that any solution addresses that problem rather than seeking, for its own sake, to refine ever more the regulations that we have put in place. Otherwise the only effect will be that more people—little people, volunteer people—will inadvertently be caught, with the effect that the reputation of our public life, relayed through the newspapers, will diminish even further. The argument is, therefore, for as much simplicity and proportionality as we can get while remembering to match solution to problem.