Donations to Political Parties

Lord Forsyth of Drumlean Excerpts

Monday 1st June 2026 Lords Chamber

[Baroness Bennett of Manor Castle (GP)]

My Lords—

[The Lord Speaker (Lord Forsyth of Drumlean)]

I think we have concluded the Private Notice Question.

[Baroness Bennett of Manor Castle (GP)]

My Lords, in 2011 the Committee on Standards in Public Life recommended that the amount that any organisation, individual or institution can give in political donations should be limited. It is now 15 years later. A few years ago, the noble Earl, Lord Howe, said from the Front Bench that, hypothetically, he agreed that there should be some kind of limit on the percentage of funding that one party should be able to get from one individual donor. Will the Government act after all this time?

--- Later in debate ---

[Baroness Taylor of Stevenage (Lab)]

The law applies to all those who donate to political parties, and it is right and proper that it does. As I said, I do not agree with my noble friend’s characterisation that all donations are potentially corrupt. However, where they are corrupt, it is important that the system can deal with that effectively and has proper sanctions to make sure that we deter those who would try to use their own personal money to corrupt our democracy.

[The Lord Speaker (Lord Forsyth of Drumlean)]

My apologies to the noble Baroness, Lady Bennett of Manor Castle. That does now conclude the Private Notice Question.