---

Political Parties and Elections Bill

My Lords, I, too, support the amendment. There seems no good reason why we do not have the normal formula, such as "by order of" or "with the authority of" a court. A further point is that the interrelationship between these powers of entry in paragraph 2 does not really tie in with paragraphs 3 and 4. I can see nothing in paragraph 2 about the commission having "reasonable grounds to suspect" something or other. In certain circumstances it can come to a conclusion and serve a notice that it suspects something such as the withholding of documents. If you look on at paragraph 4, you find on page 40 that, when the commission has served such a notice, the High Court can make an order if it is satisfied that, ""there are reasonable grounds to suspect that a person … has contravened … any restriction or other requirement imposed by or by virtue of this Act"." One of those requirements would obviously be one following from a paragraph 3 decision. What troubles me is that this appears to be, in paragraph 2, a free-standing power of entry that is not linked with any conclusion by the commission that there are reasonable grounds to suspect that somebody is withholding something or has committed some other offence at all. This needs to be rethought, in my submission, and made harmonious with what one would normally expect. The noble Lord, Lord Marlesford, has moved an amendment with which I agree. The interrelationship between these clauses needs to be looked at.