Political Parties and Elections Bill

It is a matter of judgment, but all parties have stated their desire to see big money taken out of politics and to see foreign donations removed from politics. My starting preference was to get an examination in the round of the connection that was needed by people who were otherwise British citizens before they could participate to a greater degree in our politics—[Interruption.] I am responding to the hon. and learned Gentleman's point—by way of donations or standing for and sitting in Parliament. However, that was not to be. If the hon. and learned Gentleman looked at the contribution of Lord Neill of Bladen to the debate in the other place on 15 June, he would be struck that Lord Neill, who was the Chairman of the Committee on Standards in Public Life, which produced the original plan that fed into the 2000 Act, now says that he supports Lord Campbell-Savours' amendments. He voted for them and explained why in a short but powerful speech. I understand the argument that the hon. and learned Gentleman is making—it would be fair to say that I have made it myself—but the truth is that others not just of one party, but of all the parties and none, take a different view, which we have to take into account. I thus support amendments (a) to (f).