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Political Parties and Elections Bill

Reasonable is a word that appears in almost every statute that I have had anything to do with or ever read. That is a protection that the courts will use to ensure that no justice is done to a party in a case of this kind. It is an odd doctrine that says that the word reasonable is not a protection in a case like this. We do not think that it would be terribly helpful to a person who has to answer a disclosure notice if they were necessarily restricted to 28 days when in that case it may, for good reason, take them much longer to get together all the necessary documents. When flexibility is possible, there should be flexibility. We think that that is much fairer not only to the commission—we can put the commission on one side—but to the person on whom the disclosure notice is served than the alternative suggested in this amendment.