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Political Parties and Elections Bill

The hon. Gentleman should not underestimate us. We made our position absolutely clear from the outset. In a paper that my hon. Friend the Member for Chichester (Mr. Tyrie) published some two and a half years ago, we put forward the case for a comprehensive donation cap, because we saw—as, indeed, did the former Prime Minister, Tony Blair—donation caps, and not spending caps, as the key to solving the problems of perception. However, we also said from the outset that if there was to be a cap on donations—which we strongly supported and which we have promoted—it had to be comprehensive, and that we could not have a system that was partial. After all, a dam that goes only three quarters of the way across the river is pretty ineffective.