Political Parties and Elections Bill

My Lords, I follow the noble Lord, Lord Borrie, in thinking that much of this amendment seems previous in its make-up. The amendment talks of being "guilty of misconduct", but we do not quite know by whom, about whom or how that procedure will work. It is important to have that issue clear in any Bill before we move further down that road. My concern follows those expressed by other noble Lords. We obviously want Members of Parliament who will exercise their independent judgment. Indeed, we are talking about greatly strengthening the power of individual Members of Parliament in the face of the Executive, which will mean that they are highly controversial. Under the "guilty of misconduct" rule, one is concerned that the awkward squad might suddenly find themselves somehow being asked about aspects of their behaviour that they might not be asked about if they were more prepared to toe the line of whichever party they belonged to. Even worse, a Member of Parliament with a particular behaviour—it might be particular sexual preferences that are entirely within the law—might run into groups in their constituency who greatly disapprove of it, as is their entitlement, and in turn might seek to disaffect and build up opinion against that Member. The power of Members of Parliament needs buttressing in many ways. They have lived a life where they have been squeezed and squeezed and, while misconduct clearly has to be punished, we have not yet reached the right or appropriate place to strike the balance, either in the Bill or this amendment.