Further written evidence to be reported to the House
Political Parties and Elections Bill
2:00 pm
Ian McIsaac: I can answer that question in a slightly different way. Anything that seeks to impose, by regulatory sanction, complex and ill-understood rules on volunteers will kill it stone dead. That is a negative answer.
As for encouraging voluntarism, it will flourish on its own as long as it is not put down. By and large, people are interested in politics and they want to have the opportunity to engage. As for declarations, one of my concerns is that those who give money will consider there is something dodgy about supporting political parties. They will think that Oxfam is okay, but not this or that party, because they have to go through a special legal hoop for it. The negatives are the problem. Take the negatives away and it will flourish.