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Political Parties and Elections Bill

As the noble Lord probably knows, funds must be raised by the potential leader of a party to fight that election, so candidates would go to our donors and say, "Would you mind supporting my election campaign?". That happens in the Labour Party, the Liberal Democrat Party, and it certainly happens in the Conservative Party. Ours is an extensive laid-down campaign, which is very transparent and has a limitation on how much a candidate is allowed to raise. That still means uncertainty about the donor base, but candidates go to the common—for want of a better word—donors. I hope that that clarifies the noble Lord’s very good point. Returning to my point, the two occasions when a party cannot function on a £50,000 cap are, first, the general election—when our party had to raise £30 million in a period of 12 months—and no Short money, for want of a better expression, is available to support the campaign, and, secondly, when we have capital expenditure. Sentiment would drive me towards supporting this amendment but, because there is no practical solution to satisfying these two substantial financial requirements, it is not possible for me to do so, although I strongly support Amendment 109.