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Political Parties (Funding and Expenditure)

We are not talking about a veto for any one party; we are talking about areas on which it is clear that there is already broad agreement, as there is in respect of the changes to the Electoral Commission—there must be broad agreement on that, given that I am reintroducing Conservative legislation that the Conservatives kept on the statute book from the 1980s right until they lost office in 1997. We have sought to ensure that we follow through on the broad agreement on cutting spending—something to which all the parties subscribed—in terms of restrictions, but there are remaining issues to do with how we enhance state funding in return for donation caps. Those issues are complicated and—let us be clear about it—an increase in state funding would be involved, at a time when there are big questions about whether the taxpayer would be willing to bear that. There are many other complications, too. However, we were close to an agreement, and I hope that one day we will be close to one again.