Transparency of Lobbying, Non-Party Campaigning and Trade Union Administration Bill

Baroness Anelay of St Johns Excerpts

Wednesday 15th January 2014 Lords Chamber

[Lord Harries of Pentregarth (CB)]

My Lords, before I focus on the first amendment—

[Baroness Anelay of St Johns]

May I assist the noble and right reverend Lord, Lord Harries? We allow some latitude, of course, at the beginning of any stage when Members are exiting the House in some large number, but may I advise any other Peer who leaves that they should not walk in front of the person who is moving the amendment? It was impossible for those on the Front Bench, who were listening to the noble and right reverend Lord, Lord Harries, even to hear the first word. I am sure that the noble and right reverend Lord, Lord Harries, may now wish to resume.

[Lord Harries of Pentregarth]

I thank the noble Baroness very much.

Before I focus on the first amendment in this group, I thank the Minister for responding to a good number of concerns raised by the commission which I have the privilege of chairing. He has responded to quite a lot of our concerns, in particular, I note, with government Amendments 41 to 44 in this group, which we are glad to see. All these issues were mentioned in the second report of the Commission on Civic Society and Democratic Engagement. The government amendments deal with issues of safety and security, particularly in Northern Ireland, extra expenses due to disability and travelling expenses, and they take out the time of volunteers. They also include translation from Welsh to English, although I note that the noble and learned Lord, Lord Morris of Aberavon, has his own amendment to include production costs as well as translation costs, and I hope that the Government will look sympathetically on that. I am very grateful on behalf of the commission to the Minister; he has taken a lot of trouble to listen.

However—and it is a big however—there remain a significant number of concerns, on which we are hoping to have a positive response from the Government. I have in my hands a petition which was started only last Thursday by the commission and, since then, has gained the support of more than 130 NGOs and 160,000 signatures from charities and campaigning groups that are still concerned about the effect of the Bill on the workings of our democratic society.

Briefly, the amendment of the noble Lord, Lord Tyler, is about the distinction between the general public and supporters. The commission put forward an amendment to try to widen out the definition of a supporter because, in a digital age, a supporter cannot simply be considered as somebody who gives money to a charity. As that petition indicates, with its 160,000 signatures, the term “supporters” now has a much wider character. Although the Government did not accept the amendment which we tabled earlier because they thought it was too wide, I hope that they will look sympathetically at that of the noble Lord, Lord Tyler.

To focus specifically on Amendment 34, my amendment concerns legislation before Parliament during an electoral period. It is absolutely fundamental to the healthy working of democratic society that people should be able to campaign quite freely, without being inhibited by too much regulation, against legislation that is going through Parliament during the electoral period. I was disappointed that the Electoral Commission, which has been helpful at a number of points in supporting our amendments, does not support this one in its latest briefing. I will examine its arguments as to why not.

The Electoral Commission says that, if the amendment were allowed, it would allow unlimited spending on what may promote or procure the election of any particular candidate or party. Secondly, it suggests that the range of topics is potentially wide, even if it is covered by primary legislation indicated by the Government. Let us take an example and test that out. In election year, the Government decide to start legislation for, let us say, a new town of 500,000 people not far from an area of outstanding natural beauty. This policy is strongly supported by the Government of the day, but is opposed by the two other parties; it is a highly political issue. Furthermore, the town will actually cover three constituencies where there is a narrow majority.

Surely people ought to be able to campaign either for or against that quite freely without an excessive regulatory burden, even during an electoral period. Otherwise, think what would happen. The Government could save their most controversial legislation until the beginning of the electoral period and bring it forward then, knowing that the opposition to it would be more muted than if it were outside the electoral period. We must remember that one year in five will be an electoral period. This will severely hamper and inhibit the proper workings of our democratic society.