I thank the noble and learned Lord and the other speakers who have spoken in this short debate. I was very glad to hear from the noble Lord, Lord Tyler, that he is more sympathetic to this amendment than he was to our previous one. I hold out hope that perhaps those who were convinced by the Government’s answer to the last amendment —that what we wanted was already in the Bill or could be dealt with by regulation—might be more sympathetic to what we are saying in this one, because this one matters very much to charities and campaigning groups.
The noble Lord, Lord Horam, pointed out that the Electoral Commission is very keen for the staff costs of political parties also to be taken into account. However, it is also true that it is very resistant to that because of this very issue of complexity. I am not aware that the Electoral Commission has rescinded its original advice, despite the shorter regulation period, that for the 2015 election staff costs for third-party campaigners should not be taken into account.
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My noble friend Lord Martin made a heart-felt plea as someone who has stood in many elections and experienced active campaigning groups at first hand. The noble Lord was dealing with what happens at a constituency level. As he has gone to pains to point out, he is keen on the democratic process, and the spending at constituency level is strictly regulated. This is primarily not about spending but about bureaucracy. We can see the difficulties from this very debate.