Question to the Ministry of Housing, Communities and Local Government:

To ask the Secretary of State for Housing, Communities and Local Government, with reference to the oral contribution by the Parliamentary Under-Secretary of State for Ministry of Housing, Communities and Local Government on 14 September 2026, Official Report, House of Lords, column 972, what was the evidential basis that election spending limits are too high; and what assessment has been made of recent donations to political parties in the last six months in coming to that conclusion.

The previous Government wrote to the Parliamentary Parties Panel in September 2022 regarding its intention to proceed with uprating spending limits in line with inflation. The Labour Party were a member of the Parliamentary Parties Panel at the time and no response is held.

Our letters to the Electoral Commission on 10 July and 29 August which set out our rationale regarding the review of the spending limits framework are published on GOV.UK.