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

Lord Gardiner of Kimble Excerpts

Wednesday 15th January 2014 Lords Chamber

[Noble Lords]

Order!

[Lord Gardiner of Kimble (Con)]

My Lords, with the greatest respect, we are really getting beyond the guidance in the Companion regarding Report stage. I think that in a sense the House would like to make some progress.

[Lord Rooker]

My Lords, I will take three minutes; I am not going into technicalities and I freely admit I am going to introduce a bit of partisanship.

The Charity Commission states:

“Charities must never support political parties”.

If that was the case—if that was the norm—we would not have a problem. I would like to vote for this but charities have got to be regulated, even during the electoral period. I make no apology: I raised this before, at Second Reading.

Page 14 of the Conservative manifesto for the 2010 election shows a full-page portrait of the chief executive of a large national charity, extolling the virtues of the policies set out on the subsequent pages. This was the Conservative Party manifesto using a charity for party-political purposes. I was appalled when I saw it and could not understand why there was not a row about it. That chief executive, whom I later recognised, turned up in this House a few months later. I am not going to mention her name because I have not given notice, but the charity is Tomorrow’s People. This was a thundering disgrace and I would like, in the discussions that are about to take place, an assurance that political parties will submit their manifestos to the Charity Commission and the Electoral Commission to make sure that this kind of abuse of the system and of charities does not happen again, either by the Conservative Party or, inadvertently, by any other political party.

I apologise for introducing a note of partisanship, but I have been waiting a long time to say this.

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Amendment 52 withdrawn.

[Lord Gardiner of Kimble]

I beg to move that further consideration on Report be now adjourned. In moving this Motion, I suggest that Report should begin again not earlier than 8.15 pm.

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Moved by

[Lord Gardiner of Kimble]

68: Clause 31, page 24, line 39, at end insert—
“( ) In subsection (2), after paragraph (c) insert—
“(ca) a body incorporated by Royal Charter which does not fall within any of those paragraphs of section 54(2),(cb) a charitable incorporated organisation within the meaning of Part 11 of the Charities Act 2011 or within the meaning of the Charities Act (Northern Ireland) 2008,(cc) a Scottish charitable incorporated organisation within the meaning of Chapter 7 of Part 1 of the Charities and Trustee Investment (Scotland) Act 2005 (asp 10),(cd) a partnership constituted under the law of Scotland which carries on business in the United Kingdom,”.”

[Lord Gardiner of Kimble]

My Lords, Clause 31 seeks to require registered third parties to identify members of their body, management committee or relevant officers. It places requirements on those bodies that are allowed to register as third parties under the Political Parties, Elections and Referendums Act 2000.

As outlined in Committee, when PPERA was passed, a number of groups were specified: individuals, companies, trade unions, building societies, limited liability partnerships, friendly societies and unincorporated associations. The Government acknowledge that as almost 14 years have passed since PPERA was enacted there may be other bodies that should now be added to the list. My noble friend Lord Hodgson of Astley Abbotts made this point persuasively in Committee. In the light of this, the Government have brought forward amendments to allow royal chartered bodies, charitable incorporated organisations and Scottish partnerships to register as recognised third parties should they incur controlled expenditure over one of the registration thresholds.

These amendments address the Government’s commitment in Committee to ensure that those bodies which would like to register as third parties are able to do so. I beg to move.

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Moved by

[Lord Gardiner of Kimble]

118: After Clause 35, insert the following new Clause—
“Post-election review
(1) The Minister must, within the period of 12 months beginning with the day on which this Act is passed, appoint a person to conduct a review of the operation of Part 6 of the Political Parties, Elections and Referendums Act 2000 in relation to the first relevant parliamentary general election.
(2) The “first relevant parliamentary general election” is the first parliamentary general election to be held after the beginning of the first Part 6 regulated period in relation to which one or more of the amendments made by Part 2 mentioned in section 42(1) have effect.
(3) A “Part 6 regulated period” is a regulated period within the meaning given by section 42(2)(b).
(4) The Minister may specify matters which the review must, in particular, consider.
(5) On completion of the review, the appointed person must—
(a) make a written report on the review, and(b) provide a copy of the report to the Minister.(6) The Minister must—
(a) lay a copy of the report before Parliament, and(b) publish the report in such manner as the Minister considers appropriate.(7) The Minister may pay to the appointed person such remuneration and expenses as the Minister may determine.
(8) “The Minister” means the Secretary of State or the Lord President of the Council.”

[Lord Gardiner of Kimble]

My Lords, government Amendment 118 requires that within 12 months of the Bill receiving Royal Assent, the Minister must appoint a person to review the operation of Part 6 of PPERA as it is amended by Part 2 of the Bill. Noble Lords will recall that in Committee there was some debate about the need for a post-legislative review of the provisions of Part 2.

I am most grateful to the noble and right reverend Lord, Lord Harries, and my noble friend Lord Hodgson of Astley Abbotts, who tabled amendments in Committee to ensure that this important matter was discussed. As was explained during Committee, it is right that an assessment should be made of the entire system of rules governing third-party campaign expenditure. That assessment should of course extend to the changes made by the Bill. The entire range of existing and newly introduced rules should be carefully reviewed after their first operation, which is expected to be at the 2015 UK parliamentary general election. A commitment was given by my noble and learned friend that an amendment would therefore be brought forward at Report to require a review of the operation of Part 6 of PPERA as it is amended by Part 2 of this Bill. That is indeed what the Government have now done. The next scheduled general election presents the first opportunity at which all the third-party campaigning rules will be in operation, and it is a timely opportunity to review the effectiveness of those rules.

The Minister must appoint a person within 12 months of Royal Assent to allow the reviewer to start work during the general election campaign. The Government believe that it is particularly important that a reviewer should be appointed sufficiently ahead of the general election to allow him or her to fully assess the operation of the rules. The amendment requires that on completion, the person carrying out the review must produce a written report. That report must then be laid before Parliament by the Minister. I am sure that noble Lords will agree that it is only right that Parliament should have the opportunity to consider how to respond to the findings in the report. Noble Lords will also have noted that in its most recent parliamentary briefing, the Electoral Commission gave its support to the amendment.

Government Amendment 135 is a related but minor amendment, which clarifies that government Amendment 118 extends to the United Kingdom only. I beg to move.

[Lord Hodgson of Astley Abbotts]

I congratulate the Government on having brought this forward. It is really important, because so much of what we have been discussing is supposition. We are peering into the fog of the future concerning how things will work out. This will be a chance to see what the reality is. I have just one question. The amendment talks about the person—the lucky person—who will presumably be imposed for about a year, if they start in March 2015. There will be the aftermath of the general election, and the returns required after that will be six to nine months later, so they will have to be in post for a year.

The amendment refers to remuneration and expenses. One issue when people undertake such reviews is access to skilled manpower and a team who can help them. No matter what he or she is paid, if they are trying to do it on their own, they will undoubtedly be in a much weakened position. I assume, but I want to have it confirmed, that the amendment implies that adequate manpower resources will be available to the reviewer to ensure that he or she can carry out their work and appropriate investigations. I think it is an excellent proposal.

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[Baroness Royall of Blaisdon]

My Lords, we, too, warmly welcome this amendment and the fact that there will be a review, and that a report will be laid before Parliament. The timing is absolutely correct. Should there be a Labour Government after 2015—and in 2016 when the report is laid before Parliament—as I very much hope, if there are any recommendations for change I will guarantee at this Dispatch Box that there will be proper consultation and that if any legislation is necessary, there will be pre-legislative scrutiny of such legislation.

[Lord Gardiner of Kimble]

My Lords, I am most grateful for what has been a short but quite buoyant debate. It is important that we have this review. My noble friend Lord Tyler referred to the 2000 Act and a number of problems there which had not been properly identified. I am very mindful of what the noble Baroness, Lady Royall, has said. Who knows what the result will be? However, there are always lessons to be learnt from all these adventures that we have.

I say to my noble friend Lord Hodgson that it is absolutely clear that the reviewer has to have the appropriate resources to do a proper job. My noble friend Lady Williams of Crosby asked about evidence. It is clear that for the reviewer to do a proper and thorough task, that person should seek views from many sources. Clearly, it would be sensible that those in the front line of political activity, such as candidates and elected representatives, should be part of that process.

It was nice of my noble friend Lord Cormack to be cheerful about this amendment. There is important work to be done and I understand what the noble and right reverend Lord said about his inclination or desire to have a parliamentary committee. However, I have no doubt that we will see the reviewer doing what we expect him or her to do—a thorough piece of work. I look forward to that, in whatever capacity I remain.

Amendment 118 agreed.

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[Lord Elystan-Morgan]

Surely—

[Lord Gardiner of Kimble]

My Lords, I apologise to the noble Lord, but I am very conscious of the Companion and I am very conscious that we are at Report. I sense that noble Lords would like to make progress. I apologise for intervening.

[Lord Cormack]

I was just about to sit down anyhow.