Political Parties: Funding Debate
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Lord Leigh of Hurley
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Political Parties: Funding
Lord Leigh of Hurley Excerpts(3 days, 10 hours ago)
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Baroness Taylor of Stevenage (Lab)
I agree with my noble friend and assure him that the Government take the threat posed by disinformation and foreign actors interfering in our democratic processes very seriously. It is, and always will be, an absolute priority to protect the UK against foreign interference. While it is clear that foreign donations to political parties are not permitted, the Government recognise the risk posed by malign actors who seek to interfere with and undermine our democratic processes. That is why we will take all necessary steps to ensure that effective controls are in place to safeguard our democracy. I assure noble Lords that we share the sense of urgency, and as soon as we have developed our proposals we will inform Parliament.
Lord Leigh of Hurley (Con)
My Lords, the Labour Front Bench tabled amendments to the Elections Bill in 2022 that would have granted many foreign nationals the right to vote in both local and parliamentary elections; indeed, the IPPR is suggesting this again. How would Labour be able to restrict such donations? What assessment has been made of the potential influx of foreign donations from Russia, China and Iran as a consequence of the Labour Government in Wales and the Scottish Government allowing their foreign citizens to be on the electoral roll?
Baroness Taylor of Stevenage (Lab)
My Lords, the law is already clear that accepting or facilitating foreign campaign donations is illegal. Only those with a legitimate interest in UK electoral events can donate to candidates or political parties. Donations from individuals not on the electoral register are not permitted and strict rules are in place to make sure that foreign money is prohibited from entering through proxy donors, providing a safeguard against impermissible donations by the back door. We are looking at ways to make this even stronger. It is an offence to attempt to evade those rules on donations.