New Clause 2 - Assistance for designated organisations
Regional Assemblies (Preparations) Bill
10:04 am
Mr Philip Hammond (Runnymede and Weybridge, Conservative)
I beg to move, That the clause be read a Second time.
New clause 2 deals with grants made under the Political Parties Elections and Referendums Act 2000 to designated organisations. The Act states that the maximum grant is £600,000, but in previous exchanges the Minister acknowledged that that is intended to be the maximum grant in relation to a nationwide referendum. Clearly, it is not appropriate that such a grant should be paid in relation to a regional referendum. The new clause proposes that the £600,000 maximum limit should be divided by the population of the United Kingdom and multiplied by the population of the region in question to arrive at a maximum figure of grant. That seems to be a fair and appropriate way in which to proceed.
The Minister may have an alternative suggestion, but I am keen that there should be an objective way of
setting the limit for a regional campaign and not simply a fudge under which the Government say that they will think about the matter and do something that seems okay at the time. There will be concern about how the limits are set, especially if the first campaigns are held in relatively small regions, and I urge the Minister to think about the advantages, even from his point of view, of having clear and objective definitions of the spending limits. The new clause refers to public money and limits on the amount of public grant, not just to setting limits for the expenditure of private money.
In the closing moments of the Committee, I reiterate the arguments about the spending of public money that the hon. Member for Manchester, Blackley (Mr. Stringer) raised in Committee and my hon. Friend the Member for Eddisbury (Mr. O'Brien) raised on the Floor of the House last night in relation to the north-west regional assembly. I hope that the Minister can assure the Committee that he will investigate the issues raised by both hon. Members. Perhaps he would go so far as to write to all Committee members with his conclusions so that we are aware, before Report, of what has been going on in the north-west region.