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Political Parties and Elections Bill

I support the noble Lord, Lord Goodhart, on the proposed new clause. As he indicated, I was a member of the Committee on Standards in Public Life which produced this report on the funding of political parties in the United Kingdom, and he and I were strong advocates of this measure. We persuaded all our colleagues that it was very worthy and it was therefore a recommendation of the full committee. I have not changed my mind since. The noble Lord has given the main reasons for it and I can be brief in adding to them and, to some extent, repeating them. First, it would reduce the dependence on large donations and, I hope, considerably extend the number of small donors. In the report, we said: ""We have found very widespread support for the view that it is more democratic, and therefore in the public interest, that political parties should be funded by a large number of small donations rather than by a small number of large donations. A system of tax relief which increases the value to political parties of smaller donations is likely to encourage the parties to make greater efforts to obtain them"." Much more important, in my view, is the second reason. To my mind, supporting and participating in the political process is just as important a part of public life as supporting charities, and just as worthy. In this day and age when, sadly, so many people take the view that being involved in the political process is not an honourable activity, recognising it in the tax system would be an important indication that it was worthy. I suspect that most people in this Room share my view that the way in which politicians and the political process are now perceived is most disappointing, and I would hope that the amendment would be a small step towards putting that right. Aligning tax relief would recognise the importance of participating in the process. I cannot do better than quote the noble Lord, Lord Parkinson, who gave evidence to the committee in 1998. When asked for his reaction to a tax incentive scheme, he said: ""I think that is a very attractive idea. I think anything that encourages people to participate in a political process, to get involved in political parties, to broaden the base of their membership is to be welcomed because I think politics is a very honourable profession and supporting a political party is a very worthwhile way of spending one’s time and money"."