Clause 5
Political Parties and Elections Bill
11:00 am
Michael Wills (Minister of State, Ministry of Justice; North Swindon, Labour)
Again, of course I understand the spirit in which the hon. Gentleman has intervened. None of us wants to see the practice of democratic politics tarnished as it has, sadly, all too often been in the past. We can all agree with that, of course. We have to be extremely careful. Underlying his point—I thought he was going to make a slightly different point—is that it is not just a matter of the facts, but the perception of the facts. If he were to make that point, I would happily agree with him on that too.
We have to look at what process is in place. The process will be transparent and subject to the Speaker’s Committee—in which I hope everyone on our Committee has confidence—which will be in a position to evaluate case by case precisely the concerns that the hon. Gentleman has expressed. It would be rash to try to draw blanket prescriptions; we should leave it to the Speaker’s Committee. I am sure that, in making the appointments, the Committee members will read in Hansard what the hon. Gentleman and I have said and take those concerns into account.