Elections Bill

Lord Collins of Highbury Excerpts

Lords Hansard - Part 2 & Committee stage
Monday 28th March 2022 Lords Chamber

Finally, I will address the series of amendments tabled by the noble Lord, Lord Stunell, and the noble Baroness, Lady Bennett, relating to the values of donations. Amendment 212A, from the noble Baroness, Lady Bennett, seeks to cap donations that any one individual or organisation can make to a party or candidate at £500 a year. It provides for one exception: donations from trade unions. If this measure was adopted, it would mean that trade unions would be the only donor group capable of making significant contributions to political parties and campaigners. It seems quite an uneven approach, to say the least, to restrict everyone except trade unions from making political contributions.

[Lord Collins of Highbury (Lab)]

Would the noble Earl acknowledge that trade unions are different? They are highly regulated and the law was changed to ensure that every individual who makes a contribution to a political fund has to approve it. It is contracting in now—a change this Government made without consultation with other parties. So to put trade unions in the category of a millionaire or a corporate company is totally wrong.

[Earl Howe (Con)]

My Lords, I am not casting aspersions on trade unions. I was seeking to suggest that making them a unique case, as the amendment seeks to do—

[Lord Collins of Highbury (Lab)]

I have explained why they are a unique case: you have already changed the law without consultation with any party. You changed the rules, forcing individual trade union members to contract in to their political funds. Their political funds are highly regulated and highly controlled, and were subject to a change in the law—so they are different.

[Earl Howe (Con)]

I do not contradict the noble Lord in any respect as to what he said about trade unions. I say again that I cast no aspersions on trade unions or their practices at all. I am simply saying that it seems unfair and undemocratic to have this distinction made in the way the noble Baroness seeks to do in her amendment.

Fundraising is a legitimate part of the democratic process. There is no cap on political donations because parties, candidates and other types of campaigner have strict limits on what they can spend on regulated campaign activities during elections.

The other amendment in the noble Baroness’s name—

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Moved by

[Lord Collins of Highbury]

207: After Clause 59, insert the following new Clause—
“Registration of party emblems
(1) Section 29 of PPERA (registration of parties) is amended as follows.(2) After paragraph (d) insert—“(e) closely resembles the emblem of a proscribed terrorist group or organisation.””Member’s explanatory statement
This amendment would prevent the registration of Party emblems which closely resemble the emblem of a proscribed terrorist group or organisation.

[Lord Collins of Highbury (Lab)]

My Lords, I will be very brief. This is a probing amendment with which we are seeking to better understand the powers we may currently have, and I hope the noble Baroness will be able to reassure us that we do have powers to address this issue.

[Baroness Scott of Bybrook (Con)]

I thank the noble Lord for being very brief, and I will try to be nearly as brief. I am sure that it is a very well-intentioned amendment, but its effect would be minimal. I can assure the noble Lord that Section 29 of the Political Parties, Elections and Referendums Act 2000 already gives the commission the discretion to refuse the registration of an emblem where it is in its opinion obscene or offensive. According to the commission’s guidance on emblems, which is available online, all applications to register an emblem are assessed on a case-by-case basis, but are likely to be rejected if the emblem contains offensive language or terminology or links to something generally accepted as offensive with a relevant group of people.

On a more general note, Section 29 provides the commission with an appropriate and practical level of discretion to refuse or allow the registration of party emblems. Therefore, the Government consider that Section 29 already sufficiently provides for the effect of the noble Lord’s amendment, Therefore, I respectfully ask him to withdraw it.

[Lord Collins of Highbury (Lab)]

In the light of those comments, I beg leave to withdraw the amendment.

Amendment 207 withdrawn.