Political Parties and Elections Bill

I apologise to the Committee for arriving somewhat late, but I have only just come back from across the pond, as they say. I very much support the general thrust of these amendments and I shall refer to what I said at Second Reading. A very substantial donor to my party had been on the electoral roll for many years, and was then left off it in error for one year and gave a substantial sum of money to my party. This is a slightly delicate matter, because we are in dispute with the Electoral Commission about it, but the point is that the error was purely technical. The commission now says that the sum of money has to be repaid, which is not an easy matter at all. It is true that the then treasurer of the UK Independence Party did not behave well towards the Electoral Commission. He was somewhat arrogant in saying that this was just a technicality and, "Get off our backs", as it were, but I hope that we have apologised for that. We cannot discuss the present case, but, going forward, it seems that if a treasurer of a party knows that someone is not on the electoral roll for technical reasons, and that there are other reasons whereby, for example, someone might not want to be on the electoral roll for security reasons—one has in mind the Islamist threat and, previously, people who were exposed in Northern Ireland—the treasurer should be free to accept a donation from such a person, provided that he explains the matter to the Electoral Commission and it is satisfied with his explanation. I wish to make only a brief contribution at this stage. Depending on what the Minister says, I may come back and make a better fist of it at the next stage. I support these amendments.