Political Parties and Elections Bill

The amendments in this group do not really find favour with me. Amendment 83 would cause confusion when what is needed is clarity on this situation. You should really know whether it is your own money that you might be giving to a political party; the test should be a matter of fact rather than a supposedly reasonable belief that you think that it is your own money. We had sufficient controversy with Mr Abrahams’s donations in the north-east a few years ago. The Bill is tightening up on those problems, and introducing Amendment 83 would not help. Amendment 87 would weaken the Bill significantly by leaving out "or recklessly". We need to punish recklessness, not just dishonesty. There has to be a reasonable expectation that you will endeavour to comply and that, if you are reckless in not actually complying, you should be open to punishment for it. On Amendment 88, it may be that there is a slightly better form of words to be found; perhaps "proven beyond reasonable doubt" would be better. But to make a donation and not know that it is your own money seems rather absurd. If you are in any doubt that it is your own money that you are giving to a party, you should really not be giving it away.