Clause 29 - Meaning of election expenses for purposes of the 1983 Act
Electoral Administration Bill
10:00 am
David Heath (Shadow Secretary of State for Constitutional Affairs & Shadow Leader of the House, Law Officers (Constitutional Affairs); Somerton and Frome, Liberal Democrat)
That was an elegant retreat on the Minister's part and I am grateful. I do not say that disparagingly; I believe that she is listening to the whole Committee, so if she is not persuaded by me, I hope that she will be persuaded by others with a great deal of electoral experience, particularly those on the Benches behind her.
The suggestion would not be absurd were it not for the fact that we do not have fixed-term elections. I could argue in favour of such elections, but that would not be within the terms of the amendment.
There are also arguments against fixed-term elections. The hon. Member for Worsley talked about the American situation in which there is a very long lead-in period. The other consequence is a lame duck, last term president. Of course we could not have a lame duck, last term Prime Minister in this country, could we? The political situation in this country is very different, which we should acknowledge.
The Minister is right that the quasi fixed-term elections is an issue that the Electoral Commission needs to address. It has, in fact, sought to address it. The past three elections have coincided with the county council elections in England and Wales, which is very irksome to colleagues standing in county councils who never ever get their own campaign and never get the chance to stand on their record because it is enveloped within the general election campaign.
The quasi fixed-term election also means the timing of a general election is predictable to a certain degree, despite the fact that we do not have a fixed-term election. Certain people feel able to expend large amounts of money in what they believe to be the period before an election because there is a reasonable expectation that it will be close to the general election.
There are other ways of addressing that issue. We had a debate in Westminster Hall only last week on regulating the funding of political parties and the potential for caps on donors. That might bite in this instance, because very often the abuses come not from the funds of local political parties but from funds from external sources, sometimes in very large amounts, immediately before the general election. There may be other ways of addressing that particular abuse, and I encourage the Minister to consider them.
A consensus has developed that the proposal simply will not do, because the remedy is likely to be worse than the ailment. The Minister has assured us that she will talk to other parties and will return on Report with an alternative, so there is no point in my pressing my amendment to a vote. We have made progress, and I am grateful to all those who have contributed to the debate. I beg to ask leave to withdraw the amendment.
Amendment, by leave, withdrawn.
Clause 29 ordered to stand part of the Bill.