Question

To ask the Right hon. Member for Kenilworth and Southam, representing the Speaker's Committee on the Electoral Commission, pursuant to the answer of 9 June 2026, to Question 5423, on Political Parties: Finance, what assessment the Electoral Commission has made of the potential impact of (a) the new corporate donation provisions in the Representation of the People Bill and (b) the proposed sponsorship guidance issued by the Electoral Commission to the Parliamentary Parties Panel on the ability of (a) Facebook/Meta, (b) Google/Alphabet, (c) Uber and (d) the Bank of America to undertake sponsorship of party political conferences.

The Commission identified variations in practice between parties in identifying and reporting sponsorship and has developed updated guidance to clarify this area of the law.

Sponsorship is a type of political donation with permissibility and reporting requirements. Payments linked to party conferences are considered sponsorship where one of the purposes of the payment could reasonably be seen to help with the costs of the conference.

The Commission has recently shared its draft guidance with the Westminster Parliamentary Parties’ Panel for comment. It is currently considering feedback from the parties, including how the guidance, alongside the company donation proposals in the Representation of the People Bill, could impact party conferences.

Last year, in its discussions with the UK Government, the Commission highlighted the need for the company donation clauses to be considered in relation to existing political finance laws, including specifically sponsorship of party conferences.