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Political Parties and Elections Bill

I rise briefly to support the proposal, with an eye on the clock. I do so because the amendment has twin objectives and could kill two birds with one stone. Unlike the noble Lord, Lord Campbell-Savours, I am not in favour of direct state aid, because it does not answer the question of introversion or force parties to look out—it can tend to make them look inwards. However, we need to recognise the need for political parties and that they need funding. We need to reduce the dependency on large donations. For me, it is a way in which to get modest amounts of state aid to parties without having to have the direct connection, which would otherwise be the case. The second bird that it kills is that of encouraging political parties to reach out. We examine why the turnout in elections is low and falling, but people fail to see their relevance to them. That may be their fault or that of the political parties, but we surely need to make greater efforts to try to build a mass membership. As the noble Lord, Lord MacGregor, said, that would be a further encouragement to reach out to present policies in a way that is attractive and is seen to be relevant by our fellow citizens, and would do so in a way that would reward political parties with a modest sum. I agree that the sum should be modest. I am attracted by the idea suggested by the noble Lord, Lord Campbell-Savours, that we might put a tiny marker down, because the state of our public finances is such that anything more than a tiny marker would be very difficult. But let us get something on the record that would enable us to start this new approach, avoiding direct state funding and encouraging parties to reach out to rebuild a mass membership, which sees the political process as relevant and important to themselves and to the country.