UK Parliament / Open data

Transparency of Lobbying, Non-Party Campaigning and Trade Union Administration Bill

My Lords, I thank your Lordships for an extremely wide-ranging debate on qualified expenses in controlled expenditure. I will endeavour to go through all the points that were made. If there are any that I have not picked up on immediately, I will reflect on all of them—as will my noble and learned friend—because clearly there are a number of issues in this group that the Government will certainly want to bring back at Report.

Schedule 3 inserts a new Schedule 8A into the PPERA Act 2000. That new schedule expands the activities on which expenditure by a recognised third party will be controlled expenditure. Under existing legislation, only expenditure on election material made available to the public is controlled expenditure. This is retained as an activity that counts towards controlled expenditure within this Bill. However, the new schedule extends the range of activities that are qualifying expenses for the purposes of controlled expenditure. These include: market research involving the public or canvassing; public rallies and other public events, excluding annual conferences; press conferences or other organised media events; and transport.

Again—I emphasise this—the essential qualification is that these would count as controlled expenditure only if the expenditure could reasonably be regarded as being intended to promote or procure the electoral success of a party or candidate. Where the activities

were unconnected—for some other charitable, campaigning or commercial purpose of an organisation, for example—they would not be included.

The list of activities in the new schedule closely aligns the activities of third parties that incur controlled expenditure with those of political parties. This was recommended by the Electoral Commission in its June 2013 report, A regulatory review of the UK’s party and election finance laws: Recommendations for change.

I now turn to Amendment 159G in the name of the noble and learned Lord, Lord Morris of Aberavon. This would amend Clause 26 so that costs incurred by third parties translating materials from English to Welsh or Welsh to English would be excluded. I am very conscious of the Welsh Language Act 1993, and, as I was reflecting on the debate today, I considered precisely what my late friend Lord Roberts of Conwy would have thought about these matters. He was such a well respected figure in this House on all sides, and I am pretty confident as to what he would be telling me now.

It is the case, interestingly, that under that Act—which places an obligation on public bodies—political parties, candidates and third parties do not fall under the definition of a public body. Therefore, there is no legal obligation to translate election materials from English to Welsh or Welsh to English. However, having said that, the Government believe that the Welsh Language Act 1993 includes an obligation to treat Welsh and English on an equal basis and that there is a strong and compelling case for translation costs to be excluded. The noble Lords, Lord Elystan-Morgan, Lord Wigley and Lord Morgan, made that very clear as well, with references to 1,500 years of language and the Act of Union, so the Government will consider how this exclusion would operate and will want to return to this important issue on Report. I hope that that will be helpful to the noble and learned Lord.

I also want to raise the issue of committed supporters. Amendment 160J, in the name of my noble friend Lord Tyler, amends Schedule 3 so that costs associated with sending material to committed supporters would be excluded from the calculation of cost-controlled expenditure. The costs of sending material to members or certain supporters are already excluded, as PPERA and the Bill make clear. The material or activity must be available or open to the public, which for these purposes would not include those members or supporters. As the existing Electoral Commission guidance makes clear, the exact nature of a committed supporter will vary between organisations, but could include regular donors by direct debit, people with an annual subscription or people who are actively involved in a third party.

However, this amendment goes very much further than that: it defines committed supporters as those who have made a donation to the recognised third party, those who have made a direct communication to the recognised third party, or those who have consented to receiving communications from it in the past 12 months. In the Government’s view, this would greatly, and unacceptably, widen the exclusion. At present, the Electoral Commission does not consider people to be committed supporters if they have simply signed up to a social networking site or tools, or to appear on mailing lists that may have been compiled for general commercial, campaigning or other purposes.

The Government believe that the Electoral Commission guidance is the correct approach to outlining a committed supporter. This was also the view the other place took when, in reverting to the existing definition of controlled expenditure, it removed the specific definition of committed supporter from the Bill as introduced. Of course, the Government also acknowledge that in discussion with third parties, from community groups to charities, the need for clear guidance is of vital importance. The Electoral Commission is aware of the important role its guidance plays and is committed to providing such guidance in good time for campaigners.

I now turn to Amendment 160H, tabled by the noble Baroness, Lady Hollins. She said it was a probing amendment, but it would remove election materials from the list of activities for which third parties would incur controlled expenditure. As I am sure noble Lords are aware, the PPERA Act 2000 stems from a report from the Committee on Standards in Public Life. Both that report and Parliament, through the passing of the 2000 Act, made clear that it was reasonable and sensible for third parties who sought to, or could reasonably be regarded as intending to, promote or procure the electoral success of a party or candidate should be subject to regulation. Under the Act, recognised third parties incur controlled expenditure only on election material that is made available to the public and that seeks to promote or procure electoral success. Election material covers items such as leaflets, unsolicited mail to electors, and manifestos. It does not include factual policy documents aimed at policymakers.

As I have three godchildren studying medicine, I am very conscious that the BMA plays a very important part not only in public life but in furnishing the debate on what we all seek to do, which is improve the nation’s health. The noble Baroness, Lady Hollins, will know very much better than I that the BMA publishes factual, evidence-based reports on a full range of issues covering ethical, scientific and public health matters and health service reform. Examples of such documents include publications on child health and well-being, drugs of dependence, transport and health, and a vision for general practice. These publications are factual and, as the noble Baroness said, geared towards policymakers. They are not aimed at the electorate with a view to procure or promote the electoral success of a party or a candidate and do not fall under the regulatory regime set out in the Bill or indeed current legislation.

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Noble Lords will be aware that for items such as leaflets, unsolicited mail and manifestoes to be brought into the regime they must be promoting electoral success. I emphasise that where this is not the case, a third party, be it a charity or a voluntary organisation, will not have to account for this spend as controlled expenditure.

The Government are keenly aware that campaigners will want to understand how to comply with the provisions of the regulatory regime as amended by the Bill. Indeed, this has been a recurring theme of the meetings that my noble friend Lord Wallace of Saltaire and colleagues have had with charities, voluntary

organisations, campaigners and the commission of the noble and right reverend Lord, Lord Harries. The Electoral Commission is already planning comprehensive guidance for campaigners and charities. The Government stand ready to support that work.

The exclusion of electoral material dealt with in the amendment of the noble Baroness, Lady Hollins, would strike at the heart of the regime. PPERA’s controls would be worthless. Therefore, the amendment would not be supported by the Electoral Commission.

On issues relating to market research and polling intentions, Amendment 161 in the name of my noble friend Lord Greaves would amend Schedule 3 so that market research would not be an activity that would count as controlled expenditure. Instead, only canvassing undertaken by a third party, with members of the public, would count as controlled expenditure.

Amendment 161A would amend Schedule 3 so that controlled expenditure on market research and canvassing would be incurred only where this was for the purpose of ascertaining intentions. The Government, in close consultation with the Electoral Commission, have been specific as to the activities that will count towards controlled expenditure. Market research was included alongside canvassing to capture activities that could be seen as promoting or procuring the electoral success of a party or candidate. Because of the different nature of the activities of third parties, it goes wider than just canvassing for polling intentions and covers more specifically party activity.

I turn to an example of this, which is push polling. It is a marketing technique in which an individual or organisation attempts to influence or alter the view of respondents under the guise of conducting a poll. Many push polls are negative attacks on candidates. They may ask questions such as, “If you knew that candidate X was being investigated for corruption, would you be more likely to vote for him, or less likely?” The question does not state that any investigation has taken place, so it is not a lie, but it puts in the respondent’s mind the idea that candidate X may be corrupt. Push polling is an effective way of maligning an opponent. I sense that this may be a new concept.

Type
Proceeding contribution
Reference
750 cc1092-5 
Session
2013-14
Chamber / Committee
House of Lords chamber
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