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Political Parties (Funding)

No, I am drawing my remarks to a close. In his speech at the weekend, the Prime Minister claimed, no doubt inadvertently, that Sir Hayden Phillips had recommended local spending controls. He said that Sir Hayden"““recommends spending limits at both the local and national levels.””" That was simply not correct. In the draft agreement that Sir Hayden circulated, which is now in the public domain, Sir Hayden said:"““A single overall limit will apply to the expenditure of each party, including all its constituent organisations whether national, regional, local or other. It will be a matter for the party itself to decide how to disaggregate its spending within the overall limit between the years of the parliament and among the various organisations in the party.””" I am sure that it was inadvertent, but I am afraid that what the Prime Minister said at the weekend was simply not the case; it did not accurately reflect what was said. How monstrous it would be if, at a time when the amount that sitting MPs can spend promoting themselves in their constituencies out of taxpayers' money has increased so much, their competitors would be barred by law from spending money that they themselves had raised from private supporters. I know that Labour MPs and Lib Dems are feeling a little vulnerable at present, but even they must see how indefensible such a move would be. There must be not a penny more of additional state funding for parties without comprehensive reform that addresses the concerns that the public have about party funding. This has been a sorry tale of lawbreaking at the highest levels by one of Britain's major parties. For the second time in two years, the police are investigating a Labour Prime Minister. I hope the Minister will provide some genuine answers and will also provide the public with some hope that long-term comprehensive reform can eventually be delivered. Given the way that his Government have stumbled from incompetence to chaos to lawbreaking, we may have to wait some time.