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Political Parties and Elections Bill

Again, the noble Lord’s argument seems to be that we must follow the precedent of an earlier Act—in this case the Regulatory Enforcement and Sanctions Act—and have both the early payment discount and late payment penalties. Obviously, there are arguments for both. I noticed that the noble Lord, Lord Rennard, from the Liberal Democrat Benches, was saying that they agreed with us that late payment penalties was the route to go down and there was no need for early payment discounts as well. I listened carefully to what the Minister said and I will read it with some care. It might also be worth having discussions with the noble Lord, Lord Rennard, before we look at this again at Report. At this stage, the best thing to do is to withdraw the amendment but say that we may want to return to it at a later stage. Amendment 61 withdrawn. Amendments 62 to 71 not moved.