Political Parties and Elections Bill

My Lords, I shall speak to Amendments 64 and 66, and to some extent to Amendment 65. As the noble Lord, Lord Goodhart, said, I was a member of the Committee on Standards in Public Life, which first put forward this recommendation. I was very disappointed that this was one of the very few of our recommendations that the Government rejected in their response. Indeed, they never really gave any reasons against it, so I am very pleased that we are having this debate again today to talk about the principle and to see whether we can find some way forward. I should say to the noble Lord, Lord Campbell-Savours, that I fully appreciate as an ex-Chief Secretary—I think this was what he was referring to—that we must be very careful in the current circumstances about the extent to which we encourage increased tax relief or extra expenditure. What I think we are really trying to do today is take advantage of the Bill, which gives us the opportunity to establish the principle. My one difficulty with his amendment is that he refers to £15 as the limit in 2010-11. Frankly, no one will take it up at that level. The administration would be very high, and if it seemed not to work it might be regarded as a policy that was not worth while. That is my difficulty with the figure. However, if we agree on the principle in the House today, there is still an opportunity to try to get it into legislation and to work out the timetable for it. The noble Lord, Lord Goodhart, in his usual exemplary fashion, gave all the reasons for accepting this proposal, so I shall emphasise just two points. The first relates to party funding. In my earlier years in politics, very many people in our constituencies spent a great deal of time not only actively campaigning but actively raising funds for party political work. That was hugely to the benefit of the democratic process. So much came from these small donations and fundraising activities, and it was entirely healthy. It spread interest in the democratic process, and spread political engagement much more widely. Equally, it is unhealthy to be too reliant on large personal donations; on substantial corporate funding, although that is largely diminished now if not defunct altogether; trade union support; and, above all, on state funding, which requires no activity beyond winning votes to get it. The principle here is therefore highly desirable and is a way of re-encouraging small donations. The emphasis is on small donations, which cannot be abused by large donors getting tax relief for them. We recommended the limit of £500 in 1998, so in principle I would be in favour of indexing beyond the £500 limit. The point that has been made about President Obama’s success in the American presidential elections is very clearly correct, too. This is an important way of encouraging wider participation in the political process. I shall put my second point, which goes much wider, very concisely. When I first entered public life and got involved in politics almost 50 years ago, and entered Parliament 35 years ago, it was a profession held in high regard. MPs were regarded with great respect in their constituencies and more widely, and it was a high aspiration to become an MP. Many in other careers entered Parliament half way through their active life because they felt that it was very worth while and were prepared to make sacrifices, including that of family life and financially, to do so. It is a matter of profound distress to me that parliamentary activity and the role of an MP are regarded in the way that they are today. I believe that nothing is more important than working for your constituents in the most important institution in the land. Above all, it is important to remember that Ministers are largely drawn from this pool. They make bigger and more profound decisions than others in leading positions in most walks of life. Yet those who aspire to these roles are being demeaned in public and, in my view, are seriously underpaid compared to those in leading positions in business, the professions and most other activities. My concern is not for the good people in public life who are currently being so derided, but, above all, given the current environment, for the good people from other professions who would have a real role to play and could enter politics. That is one of the most serious things facing our nation. It will be easy enough perhaps to get people to stand, but it will be extremely difficult to get people of the quality we want in Parliament. I believe that this proposal plays some small part in dealing with that problem. Charitable activities are regarded as worth while and therefore attract relief. As the noble Lord, Lord Goodhart, said, there is an interesting analogy with inheritance tax where this concept is accepted; yet we are not prepared to extend it to income tax. Therefore, I also take the point made by, I think, the noble Lord, Lord Tyler, in Committee. Many charities are engaged almost in political activity for which they get tax relief, but those who are primarily involved in the activity and want to support it get no tax relief at all. Taking this principle today, if not the immediate implementation, sends a message of profound importance, which is why I so strongly support it.