Electoral Administration Bill

moved Amendment No. 19:"Page 62, line 23, at end insert—" ““(5A)   An agreement or arrangement entered into before the commencement of section 60 of the Electoral Administration Act 2006 which would be a regulated transaction if entered into after that date is also a regulated transaction unless it has come to an end before that date.”” The noble Lord said: In speaking to Amendment No. 19 I wish to speak also to Amendments Nos. 21 to 26 and Amendment No. 30. These amendments raise an issue which has already been well debated, and I will therefore try to be as brief as possible. The Government have rightly made loans to political parties, subject to disclosure, whether or not they have been made at commercial rates. In doing so, the Bill will override the confidentiality requirements that may be contained in some or all of those loan agreements. Some of the loans have been made by people who would not have been allowed to make a donation to the party. That, of course, was legal under the 2000 Act, provided they were made on commercial terms, but it was plainly a breach of the spirit of the Act. In those circumstances we believe that the loan should not only be disclosed but that it should also be repaid. My original proposal was that the loan should be repaid as soon as the Bill not only became enacted but came into force. I was persuaded by the debate we had on that occasion that this was too drastic and that time should be given for repayment to avoid any immediate financial crisis for the parties concerned. On Report, therefore, I altered the amendments to allow 12 months from the date of the commencement of the Bill for repayment. That may be overriding the terms of the agreement, but no more so, I think, than by requiring disclosure which overrides a confidentiality clause. Further, where the loan agreement provides for repayment on demand or on fairly short notice—as I believe almost all of them will do—the lender who chooses not to recall the loan is in effect conferring a new benefit on the borrower. I believe it is wrong to allow loans in this category to remain outstanding indefinitely and that the provision in these amendments is necessary to bring to an end a practice that is an abuse of the spirit of the law and that these amendments also give fair time for repayment by political parties which have taken advantage of this loophole. I beg to move.