The noble Lord will be taken to task for not reading the Observer if he keeps coming out with his Sunday morning reading. I was not there and the Government were not there but, looking at the empirical record, we believe that this was a prima facie case. I can report only what information I have: that it was staffed by former Liberal Democrats and operated in five target Liberal Democrat constituencies, but I accept the noble Lord’s assurance that he knew nothing about it.
The clause that we have put in the Bill will prohibit recognised third-party campaigners registering as political parties and gaining access to a spending limit for each registration. The list of individuals and entities permitted to be on the third-party campaigner register will also be amended to remove political parties.
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The noble Lord, Lord Collins of Highbury, raised an important issue, asking that the Secretary of State be required to notify any person who, immediately before the commencement date, is both a registered party and a recognised third party—indeed, that is implicit in the remarks of the noble Lord, Lord Wallace. We have to hope that that can be recognised and dealt with in advance, rather than afterwards. The Government will work closely with the Electoral Commission on the commencement of these clauses as we work towards
bringing in the Bill, and the commission will be in a position to notify affected groups if a political party or a third-party campaigner attempts to register as the other between now and commencement.
I was also asked about what we are doing to communicate the change to third parties. As discussed earlier, the Electoral Commission is responsible for producing guidance for campaigners on complying with electoral law. Again, the Government will be working closely with the commission across the Bill on this aspect of implementation and guidance and will continue to do so following the approval of the Bill. From our discussions so far and given the general interest across parties, across the House and outside, it is clearly important that, whatever happens to the Bill’s progress into law, the Government continue to keep your Lordships informed in the implementation stage as we go forward. Certainly, we will take away that spirit of the debates. That certainly needs to be shared and there needs to be scrutiny of the progress towards implementation.
The noble Lord, Lord Collins, also tabled an amendment seeking to probe the application of Clause 22 to minor parties. I am grateful to him for raising the topic—the noble Baroness, Lady Barker, also raised that point. We are keen to close any loophole and prevent registered parties or campaigners taking advantage of multiple spending limits. Registered minor parties are indeed registered parties, therefore it is right in principle that this clause applies to them. However, again, I am happy to consider this point further and will ask my officials to further test this particular point raised in the debate. With that in mind I urge that these amendments be withdrawn.