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Political Parties: Funding

My Lords, much as I would like to speak on the real substance of this debate, there is a very important Chief Whip’s point that I should like to raise. Over the past three or four years I have been concerned about the provision of funds for the political parties within Parliament, in particular the position of the Cranborne money, with regard to which the figures available have been created by some system of great mystery. I have been told that this would be something which would be attended to within the slipstream of whatever came from the Hayden Phillips’s activities. Therefore, I should like to ask whether it is intended that these things can be attended to in the slipstream. Only a few weeks ago, because of the Cross-Benchers’ inadequate resources here, an emergency dispensation was made. It is important that this should be looked at. I hope that the Minister can answer in the affirmative that this can be coped with in whatever Bill is proposed in the near future.