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Northern Ireland (Miscellaneous Provisions) Bill

My Lords, the noble Lord has just raised a point that he did not raise in Committee. It is not a feature of the current controversy over donations to political parties. He actually spoke about where the donor gets the money from. That is a new issue; it has not been raised before. I cannot see how that can legitimately be put on the agenda. Where the parties get their money from is one thing, but asking where the donor got the money from is a different kettle of fish altogether. I regret that I do not have a lot more to say than I said in Grand Committee. Amendment No. 8 requires the Secretary of State to report on the operation of the provisions set out in Chapter 6, but the operation of these provisions is a matter for the Electoral Commission. The commission is an independent body, set up by Parliament, and it would not be appropriate to require the Secretary of State to report in this way to the House on the commission’s work. There are plenty of opportunities for the commission to be accountable for its responsibilities. Parliament has set up the commission to do a job; it is not for the Secretary of State to report on it or second-guess it. I appreciate the thrust of both amendments and all those relating to donations in Northern Ireland, which we debated at some length in Grand Committee. We have considered the argument since 22 June when we debated these issues. We think that we are right to resist the amendments for the reasons I outlined then, which I will briefly reiterate. I would welcome noble Lords accepting that the Bill is a big step towards ending the current situation with regard to political donations in Northern Ireland. The present situation is untenable, unfair, undemocratic and hidden. The Bill is a massive step towards changing that process. As usual, when you give the Opposition a yard, they ask for a mile. That is what we used to do in our 18 years in opposition, of course. But it would be nice if people accepted that the Bill is a big step forward. As was mentioned in Committee, the ending of the disapplication period is, as the noble Lord, Lord Glentoran, said, eagerly anticipated. Under these provisions, the end is in sight. Following the end of disapplication, Northern Ireland political parties and regulated donees will continue to be able to accept donations from Irish citizens and other Irish bodies which can currently donate to Irish parties in the Republic. That is the Government’s policy; it represents a considerable narrowing of the regime as it exists, while ensuring that the special place of Ireland in the political life of Northern Ireland will continue to be respected. We would like to stress that the precise conditions setting out the eligibility criteria for donating to Northern Ireland parties will be specified in legislation made in this Parliament. That is one of the reasons why I do not have the details with me today; we will be debating them at some time in the future. It is worth repeating that legislation is not the end of the matter. This House will have the opportunity to debate the proposals in considerable detail. The new Chapter 6 inserted in the Political Parties, Elections and Referendums Act 2000 by Clause 12 makes it clear that the prescribed conditions which additional categories of donors will have to meet can be prescribed only by the Secretary of State following consultation with the Electoral Commission. Such an order would have to be laid before and approved by a resolution of each House of Parliament here at Westminster. The conditions that these additional categories of donors will have to comply with will therefore be fully and publicly debated in both Houses at the time they are made. That is a big step forward from the current position—donations may come from anywhere and anyone in the world, and there is no obligation on parties to disclose them. It is scandalous that Northern Ireland has been allowed this period of time, compared with Great Britain. We have to regulate the situation. As Northern Ireland moves towards a normal civic society, they have to start to work within normal civic rules, and one of those is that donations to political parties are upfront and transparent. Like in Great Britain, they cannot come from anybody, anywhere in the world. However, no one is expecting the arrangements to be made overnight. Under the new arrangements, donations to Northern Ireland parties, including those from Irish donors, will be subject to regulation and verification by the Electoral Commission until the end of the transitional period, which we hope will be in 2010. Any impermissible donations will be required to be returned to the donee, or forfeited.