Recall of MPs Bill

Baroness Hayter of Kentish Town Excerpts

Monday 19th January 2015 Lords Chamber

Moved by

[Baroness Hayter of Kentish Town]

58A: Clause 14, page 10, line 12, at end insert—
“( ) The petition officer will make public, before the signing period begins, the number of eligible registered electors on the day of the Speaker’s notification that a recall condition has been met.”

[Baroness Hayter of Kentish Town (Lab)]

My Lords, Amendment 58A stands in my name and in the name of my noble friend Lord Kennedy of Southwark. There will be a key number—a target—in any recall. It is not like a normal election where, regardless of the number of promises that we manage to get, we still have to have more than the other guy in order to win. However, a recall is not the same issue. Once a specified number—10% of the registered electorate—is reached, a by-election is automatically triggered. Therefore it is vital that everyone knows what this figure is well in advance, so that it is not being argued about at the same time that signatures are being scrutinised, verified and counted. The amendment therefore requires the petition officer to publish the number of people who are on the electoral register the day that the Speaker announces that a recall condition has been met—in other words, the number at the point at which the 10% is to be counted. That is vital in order to have absolute clarity about the precise number of potential voters that constitute 10% of the constituency. The petition officer will need to know this number anyway, so everyone else should know it.

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[Lord Wallace of Saltaire]

It is my understanding that that is the case, but I will make sure that I can confirm by Report exactly what the position is intended to be.

[Baroness Hayter of Kentish Town]

I thank the Minister. I accept that three working days before the petition opens would be a better date for the number to be published. However, I am slightly uneasy that he is going to leave it to regulations which will not appear before the next Parliament to make it clear that the number should be published well before the count takes place. There is a real concern that, if the result is very close, we should not have a debate about what the correct number is at that point, given that there are bound to be difficulties about the signatures. For example, some people will have signed in the wrong place and there will be difficulties around verification. We have all been there. That is not the right time to argue also about whether the relevant figure is 7,300 or 7,400.

In a moment I shall ask leave to withdraw the amendment, but I ask the Minister to think about whether, at Report, the Government will either suggest making it clearer that it would be published, say, within three working days, or at least writing it into the record that the Government’s intention is that the regulations are likely to specify that the number could be given well in advance. I shall leave that thought with the Minister. I think that he concurs. I beg leave to withdraw the amendment.

Amendment 58A withdrawn.

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Moved by

[Baroness Hayter of Kentish Town]

60: Schedule 3, page 24, line 17, leave out “£500” and insert “£50”

[Baroness Hayter of Kentish Town]

My Lords, I shall also speak to Amendment 72.

Amendment 60 would ensure that all campaigners spending more than £50 were covered by the recall rules. Amendment 72 would ensure that all campaigners were covered by PPERA. The purpose of these is the same, in a way, albeit the former is by way of a probe, to ascertain from the Government why they chose the figure of £500 and also what thought was given to five or six campaigns in a constituency all being able to spend £500—technically, I think it is £499—without any sort of regulation. We want to see all but very small, local petitioning campaigning done in compliance with rules of fairness and transparency, particularly in relation to donations and expenses.

Just 10 days ago, on 9 January, we read a Cabinet Office spokesman saying:

“We want to make the political system more accountable and prevent a situation where opaque and unaccountable groups spend large sums of money attempting to influence the political system”.

We say amen to that, but the Bill as it is written allows unregistered people, indeed, non-UK nationals, to give or to receive foreign donations—in other words, not simply donations from permitted donors—and it would allow them to campaign in a recall petition provided that they did not spend more than £500. However, three, four or even more such campaigns could all be at work in the same constituency, which is, surely, exactly,

“a situation where opaque and unaccountable groups spend large sums of money attempting to influence the political system”,

but, in the case of recall, the Cabinet Office appears strangely unconcerned.

Some such groups may be working in complete innocence, but also in ignorance of the normal PPERA and Representation of the People Act rules, as they will not be registered parties, with all the expertise and experience that that implies. So while we welcome the parity of campaigners when it comes to rules on printed literature, if all campaigners are to be held to the same standards of election law, they should also all have access to the same advice and guidance as registered parties.

Schedule 6 makes provisions for how the Bill affects existing legislation, including the Representation of the People Act 1983 and the Political Parties, Elections and Referendums Act 2000. It is the latter that our amendment concerns. At present paragraph 3(7) requires that only accredited campaigners be offered advice and assistance from the Electoral Commission, whereas we think that the commission should also be on hand to support non-accredited campaigners. Does the Minister agree that such access to advice is essential to help this be fair and transparent in the way we want? Will he, therefore, agree to correct this anomaly? Will he also confirm that all spending and donations should fall under PPERA, which, at the moment, they do not?

I return to Amendment 60, which relates to the amount of money that non-accredited campaigners can spend. There is nothing in the impact assessment as to how the figure of £500 was chosen; and why is the figure the same for all constituencies, regardless of the number of electors? At election time, the amount that one can spend varies, depending on the number of constituents. Can the Minister set out the thinking behind the choice of £500?

We are concerned about the lack of parity between non-accredited and accredited campaigners in terms of the scrutiny to which they will be subject and the guidance they will receive. Our understanding is that non-accredited groups, which could between them outspend the MP, will not otherwise be covered by PPERA; but, again, perhaps the Minister can confirm that our reading of that is correct and whether he is happy that so much money can be spent in one constituency with no rules at all. I beg to move.

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[Lord Gardiner of Kimble]

I will take advice on precisely the answer to that so that I am most helpful to the noble Lord. I do not think that there is any point in me flannelling on when there may be a distinct reply to help the noble Lord.

[Baroness Hayter of Kentish Town]

I have to say that I have never heard the Minister flannelling on. I thank him for his reply. However, I have some problems with it. I think that the answer to my noble friend’s question about who keeps an eye on the non-accredited campaigners is clear: there is no one to do it. I understand the intention was that people should be able to spend up to £500 below the radar. He has called in aid, I think, the Electoral Commission. I really have to take issue with the Electoral Commission’s full submission for today. It keeps on saying, and has said it on this amendment, that these are intended to be localised events. I worry about the Electoral Commission if it really thinks that that is what a recall will be. It has to get real. Particularly as regards the first of these, it will not be a localised event. They will be extremely high profile. Michael Crick will be there and all of us will be there working for or against. There will be an enormous amount of scrutiny. The Electoral Commission has to get real about the fact that they will not be very localised. I am worried particularly about those that are under £500. As I have said, the £50 figure was probing but I wonder whether £150 or £200 is not a better figure.

I think that the Minister used the word “content”, and I have to correct him. The content of the material will not be scrutinised, it will only have to have the imprimatur, “printed and published by”, on it. That is the only requirement. More than that, those spending less than £500 are absolutely free of any requirements about donations. They can be taking money from Hong Kong or anywhere else without having to declare it. Even if there was someone to look over them, it would still be completely legal for them to do this. If I have understood this right, they can spend up to £500 with donations coming from anyone because they do not come under the PPERA rules at all. Therefore they break all our normal rules on this.

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[Lord Howarth of Newport]

I am inspired with confidence when I listen to my noble friend expounding the Bill. Perhaps she can correct me if I am wrong, but am I right in thinking that in effect there can be any number of these non-accredited groups operating in parallel, but there is provision that where expenses are incurred by persons acting in concert, the total value of those expenses is to be regarded as having been incurred by each of the persons in question? It seems to me that the protections, if there are any, are very flimsy indeed. As my noble friend Lord Foulkes suggested, we have the very dangerous possibility of a great proliferation of many organisations campaigning to unseat a Member of Parliament with no control over their number, no control over their aggregate of expenditure, and with the freedom for them to solicit and receive expenditure from anywhere in the world. Is that not deeply unsatisfactory?

[Baroness Hayter of Kentish Town]

It is interesting to note that when we were dealing with the transparency of lobbying Bill, which has been mentioned, we could see that as soon as charities work together they all have to take account of each other’s expenditure. But as long as these groups do different things, with one of them responsible for the literature and another one doing something completely different, there can be any number of them. As I say, there can be any number of non-accredited campaigns and any number of accredited campaigns. Ten of them could all spend £500 and another 10 could all spend less than £500. The cumulative amounts could be very large. However, that is for the Government to answer rather than me. For the moment, I beg leave to withdraw the amendment.

Amendment 60 withdrawn.

Moved by

[Baroness Hayter of Kentish Town]

61: Schedule 3, page 24, line 33, at end insert—
“(A1) The Electoral Commission will, in relation to each of the two possible outcomes of the recall petition, designate under this paragraph one accredited campaigner as representing those campaigning for the outcome in question.”

[Baroness Hayter of Kentish Town]

Amendment 61 stands in the names of my noble friend Lord Kennedy of Southwark and myself. We tabled it partly because of the matters covered in the discussion that we have just been having: its intent is to limit the number of accredited campaigners to two. We believe that that would bring greater fairness to the recall petition. I shall also speak to Amendment 65.

As I said on Second Reading, and have just said again, the problem is that the Bill contains no restrictions on the number of pro-recall accredited campaign groups, all of which can spend up to £10,000. The groups could therefore include the three political parties that were defeated at the last election, and each of those could spend £10,000. So the other political parties could spend £30,000, whereas the MP or their party—if they were still supported by their party—would be capped at £10,000.

The Electoral Commission, in its response on this, said that it did not think it should be given responsibility for what was essentially going to be a local matter. As I said on the previous amendment, a recall will not be a local matter: Michael Crick will be there; it will be on prime-time television; there will be a lot of publicity; there will probably be a few stunts, and campaigners will certainly be bussed in from other constituencies, particularly if the Government have a slender majority or the seat is very marginal.

The Committee will know that we support a recall petition where an MP has been involved in serious wrongdoing, as has been agreed in the other place. Once this provision starts, however, it will not be about behaviour. Our worry, as my noble friends said earlier, is that it will turn into a debate over the MP’s voting record or beliefs. The current expenditure guidelines do not appear to recognise that logic. They are not sufficiently clear to ensure that the debate is not on those issues. If there was something going on in the big political world at the same time, the ballot could almost become a vote of confidence in the Government on that issue. Well funded vested interests could—they should not, but they will—play a part in the recall ballot. We therefore need rules governing the financing of the recall campaign to ensure that it is not hijacked by politically motivated groups out to deselect sitting MPs for something that is unrelated to their behaviour. In fact, it could be motivated simply by the desire to get a by-election, which might suit UKIP, for example, at the time. Will the Minister—who I think shares some of these objectives—outline the safeguards to prevent that?

Amendment 61 would prevent multiple organisations from campaigning on the same side, whether that is the “for” side or the “against” side. It would therefore limit the number of accredited campaigners to two: they would be either the MP or the anti-recall campaign and one organisation or group seeking to deselect the MP—the pro-recall campaign. In so doing, it would ensure an equality of arms between the two sides. There will be those who believe that, whatever wrongdoing the MP has been found guilty of, he or she should nevertheless stay and represent the constituency. There will be many cases where the constituents would want that to happen. There will also be those who feel that the MP has simply lost the confidence of the constituency and a by-election should be held. It seems to me that there are two options and that there should be two campaigns.

Amendment 65 would ensure that the campaign literature of all those involved is subject to scrutiny in order to deter campaigners from focusing on issues that are unrelated to the misdemeanour or criminal activity proven against the MP. This would not be a complete ban, as was mentioned earlier, but it at least ought to be sent in to the petition officer to be checked.

We want the recall debate to focus on the conduct of the MP and their consequent ability to represent the constituency, rather than the causes that he or she supports or their voting record on contentious issues. While we welcome the commitment by the Government in their memorandum on the draft regulation that it will be a requirement for campaign material published by both accredited and non-accredited campaigners to contain the name and address of the printer and promoter, we think there needs to be rather more guidance on this, particularly pertaining to the content of the material. I beg to move.

[Lord Wallace of Saltaire]

My Lords, I thank the noble Baroness for the very useful and constructive way in which she has presented these amendments.

Amendment 61 draws inspiration from the approach taken to national referendums, where the Electoral Commission designates a lead campaigner. Each designated organisation then receives a grant from the Electoral Commission of up to £600,000 to spend on referendum expenses across the UK. The amendment is not supported by any further amendments to provide grants to the lead campaigners in the event of a recall petition. We are, of course, concerned about the impact of big money and outside money on recall events.

I repeat: a recall petition will not be launched until one of the triggers has been pulled. That provides the defence against the idea that recall can be bought by wealthy campaigners, as it was argued would have been the case under the proposals tabled in the other place by the Member for Richmond Park, which are no longer in the Bill. Under the Government’s proposals, the only person responsible for a recall petition being triggered is an MP himself or herself for committing a defined offence. Wealthy campaigners cannot cause a recall petition to be initiated—

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[Lord Wallace of Saltaire]

My Lords, there is a precedent in electoral law for limiting the number of people who can be involved. Even at a referendum, where a lead campaigner is appointed, multiple campaigners can also separately campaign for one side or other, subject to the spending limits. So even in a referendum, others can come alongside for the game. We are not persuaded that the tighter limits and much tighter controls proposed are desirable or necessary on this occasion.

[Baroness Hayter of Kentish Town]

As the Minister said, in a referendum, they are subject to spending limits, which they will not be here.

I do not know whether I disagree most with the Electoral Commission or the Minister. The Electoral Commission keeps saying that these will be essentially local electoral events. If this happens, there will come a time when it will discover that that is not the case. The idea that it does not want to choose and set up one campaign on either side seems to me to be not facing up to its responsibilities.

The major issue is that of the Government, as my noble friend has just been saying. I am not sure that there will even be local campaign groups. I do not know whether in Kentish Town tenants’ groups or local businesses—the groups that we know more—would campaign on this issue. What I do know is that the other political parties would. Unlike some of the noble Lords who spoke earlier, I think the party will sometimes rally round its MP because it will not want a by-election. I hope that it is not as the noble Lord, Lord Hamilton, said earlier—that it is going to be a minority Tory Government—but if it is I can imagine that we would be very keen to have a by-election from the Opposition, if we could make that choice. Even with an MP who had been out of the House for 10 days, we might well campaign for him and the other political parties would want to vote against. We on one side would be able to spend £10,000 and the four other parties could all spend £10,000 the other way, and the debate would be about whether there should be a by-election. It will not be about what the MP has done. It will be about whether there should be a by-election. There could be £40,000 spent on one side and £10,000 on the other side. The answer to my noble friend Lord Grocott’s question is that the Government are content with that. I think it is clear that we have our doubts about this, but for the moment I beg leave to withdraw the amendment.

Amendment 61 withdrawn.