Political Parties: Funding

My Lords, the noble and learned Lord referred to the need for consensus on this subject. It is obvious that there is a consensus among the three parties to come together on the best way of taking more money from the public and to reach that consensus so quickly that the public will not notice. That may well be the intention. But the serious point is that all politicians—I was an offender in the past—can do one thing above all else, which is to spend public money, in this case, for the benefit of the Government.