Electoral Administration Bill

My Lords, the noble Lord, Lord Kingsland, and I find ourselves in agreement on the amendment, which I hope will bring some satisfaction to the noble Baroness, Lady Hanham. The noble Lord, Lord Goodhart, rightly said that the transactions described and the loans made were made in good faith and completely legally. We believe that the transparency now required is right, but we continue to take the view expressed by the noble Lord, Lord Kingsland, and by my noble and learned friend the Lord Chancellor in Committee. The proposal would wreak havoc with party finances. I know that the noble Lord, Lord Goodhart, has gone some way to ameliorate those difficulties by giving a longer timescale, but none of us know whether any political party would be affected by that or in what way. There comes a point in retrospection where we must decide that we will go this far and no further. Noble Lords will be aware that political parties will look carefully at the loans that they receive. They will have the opportunity between the end of our scrutiny of the Bill and Royal Assent to think carefully about the provisions and their lenders will have the opportunity to say that they would rather have the loans repaid. That is for them. We then move to a period of greater transparency when the law takes effect. We continue to think that we have the balance right. On that basis, I hope that the noble Lord will feel able to withdraw the amendment.