Control of Donations and Regulation of Loans etc. (Extension of the Prescribed Period) (Northern Ireland) Order 2010

Lord Bew Excerpts

Wednesday 21st July 2010 Grand Committee

[Lord Tyler]

My Lords, before I come to the substance of the order, I want to draw attention to a process issue that I hope the Minister might clarify. On today’s Order Paper there is reference under this order to the first report from the Joint Committee on Statutory Instruments. Those who read the record of today’s debate might think that it was funny that there was no reference to that report. The answer, of course, is that the excellent committee that does such wonderful work on behalf your Lordships’ House found that there was nothing in the order that needed reference. In future, should we not have some reference of that sort? Otherwise, it is quite misleading to make reference to a report that says that there is nothing to report.

I am grateful that my noble friend Lord Trimble went before me, because he speaks with a great deal more personal and practical experience of the situation in Northern Ireland than those of us whose political experience is all on this side of the Irish Sea.

We should put on record that Members in all parts of your Lordships’ House must be disappointed that it is judged necessary to bring this order forward in this format today. I and my colleagues on the Liberal Democrat Benches have pressed for the greatest possible transparency in relation to donations to political parties in all parts of the United Kingdom. The point that my noble friend has just made should in due course apply equally throughout the United Kingdom. In that context, it is important that we recognise that this is, we hope, a temporary situation that we are dealing with, and it should not continue a moment longer than necessary.

The measures that have been in place since October 2007, where political parties in Northern Ireland have had to report donations to the Electoral Commission but full publication has not been required, are clearly a step in the right direction. This, however, surely still falls far short of full transparency.

As other Members of your Lordships’ House will no doubt refer to today, we all recognise that the situation in Northern Ireland is far short of the ideal that we would all like to see there. I notice that the Independent Monitoring Commission, in its report of 26 May this year, said that dissident republican groups,

“remained highly active and dangerous. They were responsible for one murder and for numerous other incidents in which victims might have died, as the dissidents clearly intended that they should. They were involved in a wide range of other non-terrorist crime and sought to increase the capability of their organisations”.

In those circumstances, we should not underestimate the serious consequences of full publication of donations to all political parties in Northern Ireland.

There is reference in the Explanatory Memorandum to a full review and consultation, to which the noble Baroness referred. It is deeply frustrating that the previous Government were unable, for good reasons, to carry out that review as originally intended. We are now effectively faced with a fait accompli in this order.

During the passage of the Northern Ireland (Miscellaneous Provisions) Bill in 2006, concern was expressed by my noble friends about the ability of the Secretary of State to extend the prescribed period by order. Indeed, we tabled amendments in both Houses to remove this power from the Bill. We were anxious that this could turn into a long-term arrangement whereby the Secretary of State could just go on and on renewing this provision, with no impetus either to review the situation or to come back to Parliament with primary legislation. We recognise and support—and I am sure that all Members in this House will give credit to—the new Government in facing up to this situation.

As has already been said, priority had to be given to the devolution of policing and justice powers to Stormont in the talks at Hillsborough earlier in the year. However, we cannot allow that delay to getting on top of this problem to continue ad infinitum. The fact that the previous Government were unable to move on this should not mean that we do not now move as fast as we can. In that context, I am delighted that only a four-month delay is being talked about, rather than the possibility of a delay of up to even two years.

However, as the noble Baroness has said, it would be helpful if my noble friend indicated exactly when the full review is to take place and what sort of consultation is intended. The Explanatory Memorandum simply states that that will begin “shortly”. That is the most misused word in the parliamentary lexicon, and I hope that my noble friend will give us more advice on that.

Can my noble friend also tell us what role the Electoral Commission will have in this process, looking of course at the whole of the United Kingdom and the relevance of the order in that context? I should declare an interest as a member of the informal advisory group of parliamentarians to the commission.

It is also important to recognise that the longer-term aim must be to achieve full transparency and equality across the United Kingdom. Can my noble friend indicate what the terms of reference for the consultation will be? Will the emphasis be on securing a change in Northern Ireland to bring the arrangements closer into line with the rest of the United Kingdom, or will the objective be to maintain the status quo?

Finally, it is the Government’s clear intention to carry out a full and proper review of the legislation in the near future, and I am delighted that a relatively short period is being suggested for that. A prescribed period of four months is more acceptable in this context than the usual many, many months. I hope that the result of the consultation will be that we can move forward, because the points made by the noble Lord, Lord Trimble, and which other Members may make, are extremely important. We should be very careful that we move forward responsibly, but we should be clear about the destination that we seek to reach.

[Lord Bew]

My Lords, I, too, am very glad to have the opportunity to welcome the noble Lord, Lord Shutt, to his position at the Dispatch Box with responsibility for Northern Ireland affairs. This is a relatively uncontroversial proposal. I am glad that we are talking about only a four-month extension. Like the noble Lord, Lord Tyler, I hope that the short period of four months indicates the seriousness of intent of the new Government, and the fact that they will not allow this matter to drift. I understand also that any new Government must take account of the difficult security situation in Northern Ireland, and that there are complexities that require a degree of consideration. However, there are reasons why the current situation is an unhappy one, and I will briefly remind the Committee of them.

One reason is that our electoral law is characterised by increasingly greater transparency. It separates Northern Ireland from the broad process of UK electoral law. However, people arrive in this Parliament from Northern Ireland in a context where the circumstances of their election are different. This could have been very dramatic after the last general election. For example, if a rainbow coalition had been formed, the role of the Northern Irish MPs who had been elected under a significantly different electoral law would have been very significant. The position of the five Sinn Fein MPs—whether or not they had come to the House—would have been particularly important and a matter of public controversy. Commentators would have said, “Hold on, these chaps were elected in a different context in which the whole financial basis of their campaign was not open to normal public scrutiny”. The Government were on thin ice on this point. The noble Lord, Lord Rooker, conceded this in 2007 when he stated:

“I fully accept the point … that, come the next general election, people will be able to question legitimately from where the parties have got the money”.—[Official Report, 23/7/07; col. 636.]

The Government were well aware of this and took a calculated risk. In the extreme form that we faced, in which a Government might have been formed which was influenced by MPs who had been elected under an essentially different electoral law, the crisis did not eventuate; but it came close enough for the matter to be taken very seriously.

The noble Baroness, Lady Crawley, hinted at another point concerning the role of Irish citizens and their ability to make donations. I understand that it is a reasonable position that the meaning of the Good Friday agreement is broadly to give a new recognition to those who consider themselves British, British and Irish or Irish. There is a certain logic to opening the door to contributions from Irish citizens; but the difficulty is that the definition of citizenship in the Irish constitution goes well beyond those who live on the island of Ireland to include a large chunk of Irish America. The Good Friday agreement does not give a new recognition, or new rights, to people who consider themselves Irish and American—but this legislation does. Again, the question that I hope the Government will take into account when they look at the matter is whether it is wise to continue with that arrangement. As I said, I welcome the noble Lord, Lord Shutt, to his new position and say that this proposal is uncontroversial.