New Clause 23
Political Parties and Elections Bill
3:45 pm
Michael Wills (Minister of State, Ministry of Justice; North Swindon, Labour)
On a point of order, Sir Nicholas. We are coming to the end of our proceedings and now might be my last opportunity to thank you and your co-Chairmen, Mr. Cook, Mr. Benton and Mr. Atkinson, for what, all members of the Committee will agree, has been a most skilful chairmanship. We are all extremely grateful for the wit, skill and good humour with which you have helped steer the debate and guide the members of the Committee, and bring our proceedings to what has been a successful conclusion.
On behalf of the whole Committee, I thank the Badge Messengers, our Clerk, the Hansard reporters and our colleagues from the police. All have provided a particularly efficient service to the Committee, especially in view of the large number of amendments tabled by the Government and the Opposition. I realise the pressure that that puts on the Committee. We are extremely grateful to them. I particularly thank Opposition Front-Bench Members—the hon. Members for Huntingdon, for Epping Forest, for Cambridge and for Argyll and Bute—for their valuable and comprehensive contributions to the debate and the diligence with which they have scrutinised the Government’s proposals under the Bill.
I am particularly grateful to my hon. Friend the Member for Wrexham and his Opposition counterpart, the hon. Member for Rochford and Southend, East, for their hard work through the usual channels. I am also extremely grateful to the other members of the Committee who have tabled amendments and contributed to our discussions on this important Bill, including my hon. Friends. The various amendments have made an extremely useful contribution to our proceedings, particularly those tabled by my hon. Friends. The Bill has been immeasurably improved, and we are grateful for them.
All Opposition Members whose contributions have tested us in debate have made the Bill stronger and more robust. We have examined in detail most of the clauses. I can just manage to say that. I hope that members of the Committee agree that there has been a productive discussion from both sides. I recognise that we have committed ourselves to coming back to issues on Report, and I assure my hon. Friend the Member for Battersea that I mean what I say: we will be coming back to them. I hope that hon. Members also agree that, while we recognise there is clearly some way to go on some issues, we have made good progress. The Bill is in a much better shape now as a result of the amendments and the hard work that has been put in.
Finally, I thank the Ministry of Justice officials. I hope that the Committee agrees that they have done a remarkable job. The Bill has been difficult and complex in many ways. It has tested them to the limits. They have worked extremely hard, late into the night and night after night to make sure that the Bill is in good shape. We all owe them a great debt of gratitude.