Party Funding

Debate between Alan Whitehead and Lord Maude of Horsham

Monday 26th March 2012 Commons Chamber

[Mr Maude]

I genuinely hope we can achieve that.

[Dr Alan Whitehead (Southampton, Test) (Lab)]

When the Committee on Standards in Public Life was finalising its report on party funding last November, the Prime Minister leaned on the Conservative member of that Committee to withdraw his support for the report on the grounds that there should be no cap on donations, but now we hear that the Prime Minister proposes a £50,000 cap on donations. Can the Minister conjecture whether any recent events might have influenced the Prime Minister in deciding to change his mind?

[Mr Maude]

The hon. Gentleman should know that we have proposed a £50,000 limit on donations going back quite some way to before the Hayden Phillips talks began. We have consistently thought that was the right level because that could be implemented without the sort of increase in state funding that would be unlikely to be welcome to our constituents at this time.

Oral Answers to Questions

Debate between Alan Whitehead and Lord Maude of Horsham

Wednesday 20th October 2010 Commons Chamber

[Mr Maude]

We will be mandating that all of central Government should buy through centrally negotiated contracts. That will save £500 million in the current year alone, and will drive savings running into billions of pounds in the years that lie ahead.

[Dr Alan Whitehead (Southampton, Test) (Lab)]

Will the Minister ensure that best practice in sustainable and green procurement is part of his briefing in ensuring best practice in Departments, and does he consider that the abolition of the Sustainable Development Commission will help or hinder him in that process?

[Mr Maude]

We are committed to procuring in a way that is sustainable, but I do not agree with the hon. Gentleman that maintaining a quango is a guaranteed way to achieve that.