Absent Voting (Elections in Scotland and Wales) Bill

Debate between Lord Rennard and Baroness Taylor of Stevenage

3rd reading
Friday 24th October 2025 Lords Chamber

[The Parliamentary Under-Secretary of State, Ministry of Housing, Communities and Local Government (Baroness Taylor of Stevenage) (Lab)]

My Lords, I thank the noble Lord for his comments. I thank all noble Lords for their contributions to and support for the Bill, and particularly my noble friend Lord Murphy of Torfaen for his stewardship of the Bill through this House.

Our democracy remains at the heart of our Government’s purpose and mission. On the point made by the noble Lord, Lord Jamieson, the Government will bring forward a number of changes in the forthcoming elections Bill, which will come before this House in due course; we will have the opportunity to discuss these matters further at that point.

I thank my noble friend Lord Murphy for his excellent contribution to our democratic process.

[Lord Rennard (LD)]

Before the Minister sits down, I note that I agree with some of the comments of the noble Lord, Lord Jamieson, if not all of them. He makes some good points about the different gaps in and problems within our election laws. In our Second Reading and Committee debates, many of us across the House spoke about the need to consolidate properly all election laws.

We recognise that the noble Lord, Lord Murphy, has done extremely well in bringing this Bill forward— I shall call it a small, tidying-up measure. It is still a very important principle that people in Scotland and Wales can apply online to vote as absent voters; that should probably have been done in 2022, without needing a Private Member’s Bill. We frequently have debates in which the expertise in this House highlights the need, as the law commissions keep emphasising, for proper consolidation of election laws, bringing together the legislation of 2000 and the old legislation of the Representation of the People Act. Can the Minister say a bit more about the Government’s intention regarding consolidating election law in general?

[Baroness Taylor of Stevenage (Lab)]

I thank the noble Lord, Lord Rennard; he is right to flag up that more work is to be done on elections. That is why, in response to the noble Lord, Lord Jamieson, I referred to the forthcoming elections Bill. I am sure that noble Lords in this House, where there is indeed a great deal of expertise in election matters, will want to contribute to that Bill as it comes forward.

I hope we will be able to incorporate many of the matters we have discussed over the years that have been missed out of the elections process or need further tightening because of current circumstances— I believe that the noble Lord, Lord Jamieson, was referring to that too. We have seen a significant change in the way things operate, so we need to make sure that election law keeps up with that. That is our aim as we bring forward the elections Bill, and I look forward to the contributions of all Members of the House when we do so.

Housebuilders: Information Sharing

Debate between Lord Rennard and Baroness Taylor of Stevenage

Tuesday 15th July 2025 Lords Chamber

[Baroness Taylor of Stevenage (Lab)]

I have much sympathy with what the noble Lord says. He has great expertise in this area, and I recognise that. Our focus is on creating a more balanced and competitive market overall by addressing the systemic barriers that prevent SMEs and others delivering more homes. We are taking action to support SMEs across the three main challenges that we know they face: access to finance, access to land, and an uncertain and complex planning system. We have announced two immediate packages of measures to support buildout and SMEs via £100 million in SME accelerator loans and measures to support faster decisions on smaller sites, which I hope will help.

[Lord Rennard (LD)]

My Lords, the one-off payment of £100 million towards affordable housing is only about 3% of the operating profit of the five biggest housebuilders this year. Is this a relatively small penalty for them to pay for anti-competitive practices over many years?

[Baroness Taylor of Stevenage (Lab)]

As I already commented, this is the biggest settlement ever achieved by the CMA. Of course, we can always do with more money for housing. We have to consider what is appropriate in these circumstances. I am sure the CMA has done that. This will undoubtedly make a significant contribution to delivering the affordable housing we all want to see. I am sure that the CMA will continue to watch the market very carefully to see that the changes that are introduced as a result of its report make the difference that we know we need.

Elections: Political Party Spending

Debate between Lord Rennard and Baroness Taylor of Stevenage

Monday 9th June 2025 Lords Chamber

[Lord Rennard]

To ask His Majesty’s Government whether they have plans to regulate spending by political parties on elections further, including by applying a national expenditure limit every year, not just in the year before a general election, or by lowering the national expenditure limit.

[The Parliamentary Under-Secretary of State, Ministry of Housing, Communities and Local Government (Baroness Taylor of Stevenage) (Lab)]

My Lords, robust party spending and reporting rules are already in place. The Government do not have current plans to review the spending limits, but we are committed to maintaining the level playing field and the integrity of elections. In line with our manifesto commitment, our focus is on safeguarding our democracy by strengthening the regulations on political party donations. We plan to set out further details on that in our strategy for elections, which we expect to publish this summer.

[Lord Rennard (LD)]

My Lords, last week Elon Musk claimed that, without his $300 million donation, Trump would have lost the election. Does the Minister accept that democracy in this country should not be for sale and that millions of votes should count for more than millions of pounds? Given their commitment to a level playing field, will the Government act to bring in a cap on the size of donations that can be made to parties? Will they reverse the 80% increase in national spending limits brought in by the previous Conservative Government and opposed by Labour when in opposition? Will they introduce spending limits that apply every year, not just in the year before an election?

[Baroness Taylor of Stevenage (Lab)]

My Lords, many things are said on social media, including by Elon Musk, and I am aware that he is a prolific user of his own platform. There has been much discussion of his words and their impact; I do not want to dignify them with any further reaction in this Chamber. On the capping of donations, those who participate in electoral campaigns must also follow the donation and spending rules set out in law. It is the responsibility of those receiving political donations to take steps to ensure they are permissible, and we will take any necessary steps to ensure those requirements are tightened and abided by. There is no current priority on capping donations, but we are very keen on strengthening the rules around how donations work.

Local Government: Electoral Quotas

Debate between Lord Rennard and Baroness Taylor of Stevenage

Tuesday 11th February 2025 Lords Chamber

[Baroness Taylor of Stevenage (Lab)]

My noble friend is absolutely correct. There has to be a focus on numbers to ensure that they are roughly equitable, but there are also other important considerations. Reflecting local communities and their interests is part of the boundary commission’s work, as is responding to local views. Whenever we have reviews of electoral boundaries, those local views should be properly taken into account. I will of course try to ensure that this continues.

[Lord Rennard (LD)]

My Lords, is it not a bigger problem that many local councils are unrepresentative of their electorates? They can even become one-party states, because of the first past the post system entrenching the same party in power for decades. Is it not time that England followed Scotland, Northern Ireland and Wales in holding council elections with proportional representation so that council composition properly reflects the votes cast?

[Baroness Taylor of Stevenage (Lab)]

I have heard this view from the Liberal Democrats for many years in local government. The first past the post system means that the electorate decide who is in charge of our local councils. That is up to them. It is a straightforward system which is widely appreciated by the people who engage with it. That is not to say that we cannot do more to encourage involvement in local elections. We will continue to do so.

Political Parties: Funding

Debate between Lord Rennard and Baroness Taylor of Stevenage

Wednesday 15th January 2025 Lords Chamber

[Baroness Taylor of Stevenage (Lab)]

My Lords, the law is already clear that accepting or facilitating foreign campaign donations is illegal. Only those with a legitimate interest in UK electoral events can donate to candidates or political parties. Donations from individuals not on the electoral register are not permitted and strict rules are in place to make sure that foreign money is prohibited from entering through proxy donors, providing a safeguard against impermissible donations by the back door. We are looking at ways to make this even stronger. It is an offence to attempt to evade those rules on donations.

[Lord Rennard (LD)]

My Lords, does the Minister accept that there can be problems with very large donations to political parties, whether they may originate from abroad or be clearly from within the UK, and that the only way to prevent undue influence on political parties is to ban company donations and have a sensible cap on the size of all other donations? Does she then agree that political parties would still be able to campaign effectively if existing public funding was redistributed—for example, from the £100 million spent by the Government in the last two general elections on distributing candidates’ election addresses—and given to the parties to spend as they saw fit?

[Baroness Taylor of Stevenage (Lab)]

I take it that that was a question about a cap on donations. That is not a current priority for the Government, but strengthening the rules around donations really is. Political parties play a vital role in our democracy, and it is important that they are able to fundraise effectively and communicate with the electorate as a very important part of our process. By law, it is the responsibility of political parties to take all reasonable steps to verify their donors and whether they are permissible. We will take necessary steps to ensure that those requirements are tightened and stuck to.