My Lords, I will speak to Amendment 106A. As I have already said to the Minister, this is very much a probing amendment. Clause 8 is an important clause. We all recognise that it has to be in any elections Bill. I note that in various references to the clause the statement is made that there is a need to clarify the law on undue influence. One of the things I asked the Minister in advance was whether he could tell us how often there have been successful prosecutions for undue influence, because it is not that easy to prove.
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My experience of elections in Bradford is that intimidation—the sort of stuff in new subsection (4)(a),
“using or threatening to use violence against a person”—
has on occasion been quite evident, particularly when Respect and Labour were contesting for support in central Bradford constituencies, between cousins and, in one election, between supporters of two different Labour candidates. We will talk about that off the Floor.
That is the clearest example one can get from this clause. Some of the others are much more difficult to demonstrate. I assume that the new subsection
“causing spiritual injury to, or placing undue spiritual pressure on, a person”
arises from the Pickles report and the experience in Tower Hamlets. I could entertain noble Lords for quite a long while about my experience of spiritual influence. My wife and I once spent a very long evening with a crate of Guinness with the nine Catholic priests in the Manchester Moss Side constituency. They talked to us about the most important issues in the campaign, which were abortion, Northern Ireland and Catholic schools. The following night, Father Kelly took me round the Irish social clubs, saying as we went that I had to recognise that we would be the only two people there who were not drunk and who did not claim to have a cousin interned in Northern Ireland. I could also tell various stories about Methodists and Congregationalists, but the hour is late.
Spiritual influence is an interesting and difficult concept. It is easier with closed denominations than open ones. I recognise that there will be occasions where this might come up in the various factions in different religions, but my point in tabling the amendment is to ask: is the Minister advised that these are sufficiently clearly defined to be of use in bringing successful prosecutions? If so, congratulations. If not, ought we to take some of them back and consider further?