Political Donations: Cap

Debate between Lord Taylor of Goss Moor and Lord Khan of Burnley

Thursday 5th December 2024 Lords Chamber

[Lord Khan of Burnley (Lab)]

I thank the noble Lord for making that point. I assure him that I will contact colleagues in the Northern Ireland team, and we will revert back to him.

[Lord Taylor of Goss Moor (LD)]

My Lords, I think the Minister accepts that there is an urgent need to tackle foreign donations, malign actors and donations funnelled through companies that may not, in reality, actually operate in the UK. This is an extremely serious issue, notwithstanding comments from the Conservative Party.

The secondary issue, however, is the one raised by my noble friend: the substantial donations made within the UK. Limiting donations in the UK to small figures would not just democratise the process but would get parties to focus again on membership, which has been in spectacular decline in the UK as parties focus their efforts on just a handful of seats and very major donors. That is not healthy for democracy. Incidentally, if we were to cap that, it might make an interesting change to the representative nature of this Chamber, too.

[Lord Khan of Burnley (Lab)]

My Lords, the noble Lord makes a number of points. I reassure him that we want to ensure that the Government’s focus is on our manifesto commitment to strengthen integrity in our democratic process. Democracy is precious, and we want to make sure that no malign actors can contribute to it and that any foreign interference is stopped. However, it is for political parties themselves, under law, to ensure the nature of the donation and the background of the company or individual making it.