Electoral Administration Bill

moved Amendment No. 79:"Page 119, line 31, at end insert—" In section 12 of the European Parliament (Representation) Act 2003— (a)   in subsection (3) after paragraph (b) insert— ““(ba)   the regulation of loans or credit facilities which benefit, or any form of security (whether real or personal) which benefits, registered parties in Gibraltar or their members or officers;””; (b)   in subsection (4), before the definition of ““donation”” insert— ““““credit facilities”” must be construed in accordance with section 71F(11) of the Political Parties, Elections and Referendums Act 2000;””.”” The noble Baroness said: My Lords, noble Lords will be aware that prior to the European Parliament elections in 2004, the Government legislated in the European Parliament (Representation) Act 2003 to enable Gibraltar to vote in European Parliament elections. The 2003 Act provided for a new combined region to be created to include Gibraltar. It also provided for consequential amendments to be made in connection with Gibraltar participating in the elections. The 2003 Act expressly provides for amendments to be made concerning the control of donations. The donations regime for political parties and members’ associations was extended to Gibraltar. The Gibraltar equivalents of permissible donors were also permitted to donate to United Kingdom political parties. A limit is placed on the amount of donations and they can be made only during the four months before an election to the European Parliament. At the same time, provision was made to extend the reporting requirements. It seems only right, therefore, to provide power for the regulated transactions regime to be extended to Gibraltar for the European Parliament elections, as was done for donations. The amendment achieves this by amending the existing power in Section 12 of the European Parliament (Representation) Act 2003. I beg to move. On Question, amendment agreed to. Schedule 2 [Repeals]: