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Political Parties and Elections Bill

My Lords, I am grateful to all noble Lords who have spoken, including the noble Lord, Lord Anderson, who rightly said that I was making the general out of the particular. However, that is what often happens. This is a particular case, but other examples have been mentioned by the noble Lord, Lord Neill, and others. The general does exist and this case merely proves it. I am grateful to the noble Lord, Lord Henley, for what I took to be support for this amendment, but I certainly do not intend to press it to a Division. I can see that there is little flexibility from the Government on this point, which is a pity. The amendment would not make life more difficult or complicated for treasurers. If a treasurer knew that the person could be on the electoral register, he would merely have to give reasons for that knowledge to the Electoral Commission. There is no difficulty about it at all. However, I can see that the amendment will not be accepted, so I do not want to take up more of your Lordships’ time. I trust that what is on the record may be useful for the future and I beg leave to withdraw the amendment. Amendment 28 withdrawn.