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Political Parties and Elections Bill

I confess and declare that I did not go to the University of Hull—in fact I did not go to any university at all, which probably makes me totally inadequate in making any statement here. However, I did go to the university of being Treasurer of the Conservative Party in probably the darkest and most difficult time for political funding. One of the lessons I learnt in dealing with the Electoral Commission—and it was put so beautifully by the noble Lord—was that it did not have any clarity of purpose. It was confused and unable to understand what disciplines it should mete out and how to control the funding. The key words here are "clarity" and "purpose". We must ensure that we have people who understand the process operating the commission.