UK Parliament / Open data

Electoral Administration Bill

That is precisely so. We are talking about a loan made before the relevant time—the commencement of this part of the Bill—which is still outstanding when the Bill becomes law and is from a non-permissible donor who would not have been able to make it after the event. The right and sensible way to deal with that is to require the political party in question to repay the loan not on day one—let us live in the real world—but over a sensible period. In that way, the matter is cleared up and settled, and no one will have benefited from what would subsequently be an unlawful donation in kind. I do not need to prolong our debate. The proposals are welcome. I do not think anyone is suggesting that they go far enough to deal with the problems of party funding, but they are a welcome first step. What is particularly welcome is that we have managed to achieve a degree of consensus in a relatively short time. I hope that that consensus will be maintained.
Type
Proceeding contribution
Reference
447 c707 
Session
2005-06
Chamber / Committee
House of Commons chamber
Back to top