Political Parties and Elections Bill

My Lords, I rise with a little trepidation to put a slightly different point of view. I have great sympathy with the fact that this was not discussed in the House of Commons, and it should have been. It says an awful lot about the procedures of the House of Commons that 216 MPs can support an amendment and then it is decided not to take it. I can only say thank goodness we do not have procedures like that in the House of Lords. I genuinely hope—and I have said this to my noble friend—that there might be the possibility of some solution to this before we reach Third Reading. However if that is not possible, I shall vote with the Government. I will do so because the amendment is so badly flawed that I do not feel able to support it. It does not do what it is attempting to do. I have great sympathy with what it is attempting to achieve. I think it is diabolical that large sums can be spent prior to an election in the way that they have been in the past, but this amendment does not solve that problem. It does not solve the problem of a non-UK taxpayer putting money through companies or unincorporated associations. To prevent that would need another amendment, which we do not have in front of us. Nor does it do what I would like it to do, which is to say that large donations should not be spent before a general election from wherever they come. I can only cite from my own constituency, where one of the candidates spent £90,000 of his own money prior to the last general election. There is nothing in this amendment to stop that happening next time. I wish there was, but this amendment does not do what a lot of people believe it will do.