Political Parties and Elections Bill
10:21 am
Pete Wishart (Spokesperson (Overseas Aid; Culture, Media & Sport; Ministry of Justice); Perth and North Perthshire, Scottish National Party)
May I gently remind the Secretary of State that there are more than three parties in the UK political process? In fact, some of those political parties are now the Government of some nations, and one of them is also looking to increase its number by a quarter in the course of the next few days.
I have been very disappointed by the way in which the Secretary of State, and probably all the other political parties in the House, have tried to engage the minority parties in the House. Our involvement has been pretty woeful, and the failure to invite us to the discussions with Hayden Phillips was a big omission. However, we will leave that aside just now, especially given our particular role. I am sure that the Secretary of State is eternally grateful to the Scottish National party for highlighting the practice of people being ennobled to the House of Lords for making donations to political parties. I am sure that he is grateful also for the robust and thorough police investigations to challenge whether that was legal.
May I ask the Secretary of State where in the Bill there is any indication that that type of practice could be dealt with efficiently and effectively, and will never be allowed to happen again?