Political Parties and Elections Bill

As always, my hon. Friend makes an extremely important point. That is one of the issues that we will have to consider. As I have said, we cannot guarantee that this Government will be in power indefinitely. We have to cater for the risk of inflation taking off, as it has in the past. We have to be careful and sensitive to what may happen in future. However, he makes an important point about volunteers. As I say, we will consult hon. Members from all parts of the House informally on that. I hope that, in the Lords, our amendments will command a broad consensus. As long as this House expresses its view on the principle, we will go forward. For the reasons that I have given, I hope that Opposition Members will withdraw their amendments, but I look forward to hearing what they have to say. Amendments 121 and 122 are Opposition amendments on limits on donations. During the passage of the Bill, we have heard a good deal of debate about what is a reasonable excuse for non-compliance with the regime in the Political Parties, Elections and Referendums Act 2000. I think that we can all find some sympathy for an individual who makes a small, inadvertent error and who subsequently fears criminal prosecution by the police, or action by the Electoral Commission. However, we have also been clear that if we want to deal with such concerns, we must ensure that we do not create a loophole to be exploited by the less scrupulous individual, who might seek to conceal a larger wrong behind the claim of a small-scale error. We have considered those concerns and believe that there is merit in addressing them. I am happy to confirm that we intend to introduce amendments in the other place to reframe some of the offences in the 2000 Act that might currently be so widely framed as not to take full account of inadvertent errors for which there is a genuine, reasonable excuse. I hope that that approach will be welcomed by Members who are concerned that the current framing of certain offences is too stark, binary and polarising. I hope that they will be reassured that the Electoral Commission will be better able to apply its reasonable judgment at the outset of considering a potential case. We have listened carefully to all the concerns that have been expressed about that and taken account of them.