Donations to Political Parties

Lord Leigh of Hurley Excerpts

Thursday 12th February 2026 Grand Committee

[Lord Leigh of Hurley (Con)]

My Lords, I declare my interest as a senior treasurer of the Conservative Party. I congratulate the noble Lord, Lord Sikka, on his very prescient timing, securing this debate just as the Representation of the People Bill is introduced today.

The Government are proposing to introduce “enhanced due diligence” measures in the forthcoming elections Bill. One has to ask why. If the intent of the legislation is to protect against foreign interference, the new regulatory regime should be targeted in that respect, rather than seeking to envelope genuinely domestic and permissible transactions in extra and excessive red tape. Political parties and regulated donees have a legal obligation to ensure that they receive donations only from permissible sources, which in the case of companies must be companies carrying out business in the UK. Foreign donations are already banned. There are criminal offences in relation to fraud declarations and funnelling unlawful donations via the back door.

However, parties could do with more information from government agencies. In the case of Christine Lee, who gave some £700,000 to Labour Party recipients, it would have been helpful if the security services had alerted Labour to the Chinese Communist Party involvement, for its benefit. Likewise, HMRC has recently declined to share information with national political parties because of so-called tax confidentiality. This fails to recognise an important fact: political parties are not banks or tax authorities. Their assessment of risks is otherwise limited to what is in the public domain. If there are particular risks from specific foreign threats, there should be mechanisms to inform parties of those risks.

The greatest risk of foreign influence lies in third parties, rather than highly regulated and very transparent political parties. That is why we see money flowing into Islamist causes and Gaza independence-style campaigns, which is very worrying. Certainly, the Conservative Party undertakes due diligence checks on its donors, in terms of, first, regulatory compliance and, secondly, political screening and reputational impact. Donations from shell companies are not allowed and not taken. In government, the Conservatives tightened the law against foreign interference and foreign spending; it is the Labour Government who are now dragging their feet by failing to implement properly the foreign influence registration scheme and by not adding China to the enhanced tier. Also, I add my name to those advocating banning cryptocurrency donations. I can see no reason to use them other than for nefarious purposes.

The Government need to recognise that donors are generally good citizens who want to help a political party and want it to succeed. Some do so by giving their time, some by giving financial resources. Over the years, Labour, Lib Dems and all parties have had many such folk, albeit that some may have now withdrawn, given the performance of their party. Of course, that has left Labour completely beholden to the unions. Is this healthy? The result has been the morally offensive Employment Rights Act, where Labour has been forced to allow unions to clip members’ fees into their political funds unless members object. This is the wrong direction of travel. Genuine donors need to be thanked and applauded, not demonised.

Holocaust Memorial Bill

Lord Leigh of Hurley Excerpts

Report stage
Wednesday 11th June 2025 Lords Chamber

I agree on one point. The Jewish community can be said to be divided. It has been divided for as long there has been a Jewish community, both in this country and elsewhere. If you read the Bible, you will know that there were some people who did not want to leave Egypt, so the fact that you have a divided Jewish community is not a new point. I caution, with the greatest respect, against invoking the name of Rabbi Gluck in this context. He was about the only person in the Jewish community who sought to maintain cordial relations with Mr Corbyn when the rest of us thought he was basically leading an antisemitic cult which, at one point, threatened to take over the Labour Party. I am not going to take lessons from Rabbi Gluck as to how the Jewish community should operate. The overwhelming majority of the Jewish community is strongly in favour of this memorial and learning centre. The huge advantage of this amendment is that it will put the purpose of the memorial and the learning centre right there in the Bill.

[Lord Leigh of Hurley (Con)]

My Lords, I would like to say, as someone who is Jewish, how incredibly heartwarming each and every one of the speeches tonight has been. Every speaker has spoken with compassion, affection and sensitivity to the plight of the Jewish people and other victims of the Holocaust. This proposed new clause reflects great credit on this House.

My main point was prompted by the noble Lord, Lord Evans. He went to see Lord Ashcroft’s exhibition of Victoria Crosses at the Imperial War Museum. Lord Ashcroft very generously gave his incredible collection of VCs and £5 million to the museum, which was very grateful. However, the trustees of the museum decided, of their own volition, to close the exhibition and return the medals—but not the Victoria Crosses—to Lord Ashcroft. This is a lesson to us all about what can happen years after something is determined in good faith: trustees can change their minds or the trustees themselves change, or the mood, fashion or style can change. That is why I welcome the amendment tabled by the noble Lord, Lord Verdirame. The purpose has to be included in the Bill.

[Baroness Scott of Bybrook (Con)]

My Lords, I first thank the noble Lord, Lord Verdirame, for bringing his Amendment 4 and his manuscript Amendment 4A which I have signed. As I said during our debate on this issue in Grand Committee, it was our understanding that this amendment is in line with the Government’s intentions. When we debated the amendment to closely define the sole purpose of the memorial and learning centre, the Government then resisted it.

On the one hand, the Minister argued that the amendment is unnecessary because:

“This Bill is about a memorial to the Holocaust, not to all genocides or crimes against humanity”—[Official Report, 27/3/25; col. GC 551.]


But he then went on to say later that:

“The centre is also intended to address subsequent genocides within the context of the Holocaust”.—[Official Report, 27/3/25; col. GC 552.]


That is an inconsistent and confusing position. I therefore understand why the noble Lord, Lord Verdirame, has brought his amendments forward on Report today.

We share the noble Lord’s concern that the Holocaust memorial and learning centre could in future come to inappropriately shift its focus from the unique crime perpetrated against the Jewish people and the other victims of the Holocaust by the Nazis to other acts of genocide. The memorial and learning centre should be purely focused on the unique horror of the Holocaust and we must resist any attempt to draw a moral equivalence between the Holocaust, which stands out in world history, and other events.

In the words of one German historian, the Holocaust was

“a unique crime in the history of mankind”,

and, as the then Prime Minister’s Holocaust Commission stated in 2015,

“It is clear that Britain has a unique relationship with this terrible period of history”.


That is why we set out to deliver this memorial and learning centre, and we must not forget that impetus.

I am also pleased that the noble Lord, Lord Verdirame, has included antisemitism in his amendment. As my noble friend Lord Cameron of Chipping Norton put it so well at Second Reading,

“We have a problem with antisemitism in this country, and it is growing. What better way to deal with this than to have a bold, unapologetic national statement? This is not a Jewish statement or a community statement; it is a national statement about how much we care about this and how we are prepared to put that beyond doubt”.—[Official Report, 4/9/24; col. 1170.]


This amendment is clearly consonant with the intentions of the Bill, and importantly, it need not delay its progress. Given these amendments meet those two tests, we will support the noble Lord, Lord Verdirame, in his amendments should he seek the opinion of the House. However, I hope that we will not have to do that. I hope the Minister will stand up and agree with this House that the Government will look at this and bring back their own amendments at Third Reading.

Elections: Political Party Spending

Lord Leigh of Hurley Excerpts

Monday 9th June 2025 Lords Chamber

[Baroness Taylor of Stevenage (Lab)]

As the work is being done to consider what needs to be in the electoral strategy, there have been a number of recent reports on elections and how they work. All the work done will be considered as we pull together the election strategy.

[Lord Leigh of Hurley (Con)]

My Lords, in her answer to the Question from the noble Lord, Lord Rennard, and the Michael Brown memorial question, the Minister referred to a strategy document that is being produced before the Summer Recess, but as of yet there has been no engagement with any other political party on this document. The last Conservative Government consulted the parliamentary parties panel, but the Labour Government have yet to do this. Will she commit so to do? I declare my interest as a treasurer of the Conservative Party.

[Baroness Taylor of Stevenage (Lab)]

The noble Lord is right that all political parties must be engaged in any consultation. The idea is to produce a draft strategy based on the reports that have been produced so far and then have an extensive consultation on that. I will reply to the noble Lord in writing if that is different.

Parking (Code of Practice) Act 2019

Lord Leigh of Hurley Excerpts

Wednesday 4th June 2025 Lords Chamber

[Baroness Taylor of Stevenage (Lab)]

I thank my noble friend. Giving local leaders the power and resources to deliver the solutions that are right for their area is at the heart of our Government’s devolution agenda. We have made £69 billion available to council budgets, and brought forward the first multiyear funding settlement in a decade, so that they can deliver better public services and drive forward our plan for change. The English Devolution White Paper was published in December 2024 and the Bill will come to us in due course, which I know noble Lords are all looking forward to. There will be an ambitious package of transport measures in there to give local leaders the tools and the flexibility they need to improve local transport networks and infrastructure. Through greater funding consolidation and multiyear settlements, authorities will have the flexibility to plan and deliver the services that are aligned to local priorities, and to design the transport systems that meet their local needs.

[Lord Leigh of Hurley (Con)]

My Lords, I gather that a consultation will take place next week between the industry and the Minister. One hopes that a code will be set up, but the Government can determine fines. Does she agree with the leader of Bournemouth Council, Millie Earl, who, following an incident where fire engines could not get through on a road by the seafront, said:

“We are really constrained in what we can do to deal with it”?


The fines are now £35, which, as the former MP for Bournemouth East, Tobias Ellwood, said, is a very good bargain for parking for a day out.

[Baroness Taylor of Stevenage (Lab)]

It is very important that local areas can determine that themselves. It is not the Government’s intention to impose that on local areas, because it may vary across an area. It is very important that local areas can determine that themselves and fit it around their overall local transport strategy—that is key. There is a great difference between local authority car parking, where the money might be recycled into local services, and private parking. Sometimes there are agreements between the private parking companies, sometimes there are not. This is a matter for local determination.

Car Parking Companies

Lord Leigh of Hurley Excerpts

Tuesday 4th February 2025 Lords Chamber

[Baroness Taylor of Stevenage (Lab)]

I very much understand the issues that my noble friend has outlined. We will do our best to work across government. That is a Home Office issue, but I would be happy to meet her and the noble Lord, Lord Spellar, to discuss this further.

[Lord Leigh of Hurley (Con)]

Is the Minister aware that, following the judicial review that she mentioned of the code of conduct, the department promised to publish an impact assessment? It did publish draft impact assessments but has not yet published the full impact assessments. Is the reason for that that the impact assessments show that the £100 dropping to £40 does work and that the problem is that councils, which can charge only £50, dropping to £25, are not able to enforce parking restrictions because it simply is not economic?

[Baroness Taylor of Stevenage (Lab)]

I am not sure why the full impact assessment was not published. The accredited trade association’s voluntary cap on private parking charges is £100, as the noble Lord will be aware. I will look into the issue around local authority caps on parking charges and get back to him.

Political Parties: Funding

Lord Leigh of Hurley Excerpts

Wednesday 15th January 2025 Lords Chamber

[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.

Holocaust Memorial Bill

Lord Leigh of Hurley Excerpts

2nd reading
Wednesday 4th September 2024 Lords Chamber

[Lord Leigh of Hurley (Con)]

My Lords I rise to support this Bill as it stands and congratulate the noble Lord, Lord Khan of Burnley, on bringing it through. A cursory glance at my interests in the register will reveal that I have many interests in the Jewish community. I am president, chairman or vice-president of a number of Jewish community organisations, including a synagogue, a think tank and a leadership group. Not listed is my involvement in and support of a number of other Jewish-related charities, such as the Holocaust Education Trust. I was at the dinner where my noble friend Lord Cameron made his eloquent speech with this idea. However, I cannot possibly claim, and would not wish to, that I represent any of them or that any of them agree on anything, particularly this issue. They all have different views of different strength.

I have to be honest that, initially, I struggled to come to terms with any objection. As Sir Mick Davis said in his commission’s report,

“The Holocaust was also a catastrophe for human civilisation. The very scientific and industrial innovation which had propelled society forward was used on an extreme scale to take humanity into the deepest abyss of moral depravity”.


It was so depraved and evil that it has taken some many decades to be able to address it and consider how to mark it.

As my noble friend Lord Cameron and the noble Lord, Lord Carlile, said, those of us who have been to a camp, read about the Holocaust or seen documentaries can never forget the images and the stories, often told first-hand, but not for much longer. Those who do not have a personal connection will from time to time be reminded by popular culture. Who will ever forget the sight of Dr Jacob Bronowski in “The Ascent of Man” standing in a pond where the ashes of 4 million people reside or how popular culture reminds us of the bravery of Oskar Schindler and Nicholas Winton or The Escape Artist: The Man Who Broke Out of Auschwitz to Warn the World, the story of Rudolf Vrba told by Jonathan Freedland, or even our own noble friend Lord Finkelstein’s telling of his family’s ordeals at the hands of Hitler? However, these will pass. The world will move on and perhaps fail to believe that a country that was at the very peak of the civilised world, the most sophisticated, mannered, wealthy, cultured country in existence at the time—Austria, as Stefan Zweig described it—could have produced Adolf Hitler? Your Lordships do not need me to tell you all this. We are all of a mind to ensure that the creation of an evil capable of perpetrating the humiliation, depravation and, ultimately, attempted extermination of the Jewish people and others needs to be prevented from ever happening again.

I want to address some of the concerns raised. In all honesty, I find it very painful to have to have a public argument on this debate. I am more than happy to have a ding-dong and set-to with noble Lords about Brexit, the economy or taxation, but this is difficult. It upsets me to know that some Peers are against this proposal, particularly those whom I rate so very highly and respect more than I can say in public without embarrassing them and me, none more so than the noble Baroness, Lady Deech, whose description of her interest in her petition is so moving, starting with the words:

“I am a direct descendent of Holocaust victims”.


Who am I to disagree with someone with that pedigree?

I want to say that I understand the noble Baroness’s concerns. I agree with her that this must not be just a memorial to British values. It must retain its focus on the 6 million exterminated and the attempt to eradicate one single group of people. We need to ensure that this memorial and learning centre explains that this really was an attempt at a genocide in the true sense of the word, not as currently bandied around in some parts of the Middle East at the moment—to do so is gut-wrenching.

Her concerns that the learning centre is too small when compared to the commission’s recommendations are well made, but there can be other learning centres for greater study. This venue will make people, in particular children who come to visit us in Parliament, stop and stare, not just now, not just for decades, but in hundreds of years, and say “Wow! Why did they build that here? Why is it so prominent with its 22 fins?”. That reaction will come only from a structure and venue as currently proposed and with an opportunity for visitors to learn enough about what happened to understand its importance.

We in the Jewish community, and others, have spent too long arguing over this proposal and, as we have done so, survivors such as Zigi Shipper, Sir Ben Helfgott and many others, so keen to see it built, sadly are no longer with us. We can ensure that the memorial and learning centre achieves the spirit of the objectives of the commission, we can address many of the concerns raised by the petitioners against it, but we should not allow the many nimby and other objectors to overturn a project whose time has come.