Political Parties and Elections Bill

Let me take a moment in which to contemplate that enticing image. [Laughter.] No—I have calmed down now. As always, the hon. Gentleman makes an interesting point that has some merit. We did consider it, but I am afraid that in the end we rejected it. Let me explain why. Obviously, I cannot speak to the Opposition amendments—no doubt the Opposition will do that very well themselves—but I will explain why I was persuaded on this point, in an effort to reassure the hon. Gentleman. Of course the hon. Gentleman is right about complexity. We should always try to avoid it, for precisely the reasons that he mentioned. We want to make the compliance burden as light as possible, although there has to be a compliance burden: let there be no doubt about that. Compliance is essential, transparency is essential and accountability is essential, for all the reasons that I have already given. Complexity can militate against those elements—I will concede that point to the hon. Gentleman—but, as always, it is a matter of striking a balance. I think it important for us to accept and entrench the principle of a threshold—that is implicit in all previous legislation, and it is implicit here—along with the principle that, although where we strike the balance is a matter of judgment, wherever we strike it there is a threshold below which donations should not be recorded. What persuaded me of the merit of the Opposition amendment—and the reason for our intention, subject to a condition that I shall explain in shortly, to table our own amendments in the House of Lords to achieve the same effect—was the fact that one part of it does entrench the principle of there being a threshold. That means that we will not have to return to the threshold, because we will not see it being eroded over time by inflation. Of course, under this Government we have had record low levels of inflation thanks to the prudent management of my right hon. Friends the Prime Minister and the current Chancellor of the Exchequer, and as a result of that historic achievement we face a global recession much better equipped than we would have been otherwise. Nevertheless, we cannot legislate for future Governments, and we do not know how successfully they will handle whatever inflationary challenges may emerge in future. We all remember what happened under the previous Conservative Government—I know the hon. Gentleman does—