Political Parties: Funding

My Lords, it was the Prime Minister who introduced that legislation; the Prime Minister who saw the loophole and exploited it; the Prime Minister’s people who told donors to give loans, not gifts, so that they could be kept secret; it was the Prime Minister who offered the peerages. For all the talk of using the Electoral Administration Bill to right this wrong, there was not a peep about it from Ministers when it was introduced just a few weeks ago. I fear that this House has been gravely damaged by what will inevitably be remembered as the loans for peerages affair. It is vital to restore public confidence in our political system. We will play our part in what is now needed—a fresh start and a change of values behind the best known front door in the world.