Political Parties and Elections Bill

My Lords, I hesitate to dissent from a view expressed by the noble Lord, Lord Neill of Bladen, but I would say the following to him on the question of state funding. If you put state funding directly to the British people, as against a system that in part almost invites corruption, I know on which side the public would come down. The problem with the argument about state funding is that we have never really set out the reasons why those of us who support it so passionately do so. We believe that it is a far more honest way of funding political parties and that it avoids all the difficulties that we have had over not just this recent period but the last 10 years. My Amendment 65 is a probing amendment and I can assure my noble friends that I do not intend to push it to a vote. However, I would like to say this: Amendment 29 dovetails very neatly with this amendment. That is because the truth is, and we all know it, that political parties will be affected by what has happened over Amendment 29. Political parties will inevitably have to find different ways of raising revenue. The principle behind these amendments is that a covenanting tax-relief system would provide an alternative. My problem with the amendments moved from the Liberal Democrat Benches is the cost. That was the concern that I expressed in Committee. If I remember rightly, the noble Lord, Lord MacGregor, had, throughout the period of the Thatcher Administration, an important position in government—certainly in the Treasury in the years when I was in the Commons. In Committee, he said: ""I will be arguing that every proposal for tax relief or for further state funding should be looked at extraordinarily carefully and be very well justified. Given the state of the public finances today, I would not put forward such a case … I hope that, in more propitious times, we can address this again in preference to further state funding. It is the right way to proceed".—[Official Report, 5/5/09; col. GC 222.]" I agree with that sentiment. It is the way forward, but the problem is that we are in difficult financial conditions and I have great reservations about an amendment that would oblige the Treasury to stump up a substantial amount of cash. The reason why I tabled my amendment is that it would cost the Treasury almost nothing but would put in place a framework on which we could build in the future. I imagine a system—in the more propitious times to which the noble Lord, Lord MacGregor, referred—where, annually, either some inflationary measure is applied to it or the threshold is raised. I think that we should be impressing on the Treasury, and on my friend Jack Straw in the other place, the importance of accepting an amendment of this nature in legislation. I do not know whether the Liberal Democrat Benches intend to push this to a vote today. However, if the amendment were to be carried, it would be possible during Commons consideration of Lords amendments for the Government to introduce a more appropriate sum—a sum that could be afforded. I simply wonder whether that might be in the mind of Ministers if they have to reject this amendment today. If it is rejected today, I can say to my noble friends that I will be lobbying fairly extensively over the next few days, prior to Third Reading, for perhaps some concession to be made by the Government. I hope that we do not simply say no out of hand and reject this for all time; I hope that we can perhaps see a little flexibility in the response from the Dispatch Box by my noble friend.