Political Parties and Elections Bill

I support the amendment. It is similar to one that we have proposed and relates to a discussion in the other place. Indeed, it was promised. We tabled a similar amendment in Committee in the other place and the Minister agreed to consider it further. However, it was rejected because of poor drafting. It proposed that a long-standing officer of more than five years could be excluded even though they were still serving. Our point is similar. Sometimes people can get the wrong impression about those who constitute a local political party. There may be other political parties which are well run and have great officers, compliance officers, accountants and lawyers just sitting there in constituency association offices on the seventh floor of some tower block. The Tory Party is not like that; in many places, those officers are volunteers. The office, if there is an office, comprises a Curver box handed on from one officer to another. We must remember that those people are doing tremendous work, as I said at Second Reading, in ensuring that the channels of democracy function within our country. Acting on a voluntary basis, they ensure that people hear about different, alternative political options which are available. Such people are the heroes of our democratic system and ought to be upheld as such and not have undue responsibilities placed upon them. For that reason, we believe that a five-year limit may be appropriate. Furthermore, it is worth mentioning, without giving specific examples, that people who undertake the administrative work within a political association often tend to be slightly more advanced in years—I choose my words very carefully—than some of the people who are out pushing leaflets through letter boxes. There are some grand exceptions of people still out there campaigning to the last, but this is one of the ways in which volunteers can help if they cannot go out delivering leaflets. That voluntary contribution is welcomed by the parties. The whole purpose of the Bill is to encourage people coming into political activity in a lawful, above-board, clear way. Therefore, this amendment achieves that objective and we want to support it.