Political Parties and Elections Bill

That is a formidable point and it reflects the one that I made about enforcement. The commission has many other responsibilities but, when it comes to the specific task of enforcement, I think that the chief executive will be well advised to think very carefully about the so-called period of quarantine. However, the marker that I wanted to put down is that we need to be quite sure that we give guidance to those who set out the criteria. I think that we will all have to give that matter more thought before Report, and I hope that the Minister will do so too. However, whether the guidance should be in the form of the time limitations in the Bill, I have more doubt. The noble Lord, Lord Hodgson, made the valid point that we do not want to see at any level of the commission people given important responsibilities that will have a direct relationship on how a party, or an individual within a party, is or is not the subject of any enforcement. It is an extremely important point that we should all think about between now and Report. It may be that Ministers will find a way of approaching this issue other than through the Bill.