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Political Parties and Elections Bill

The debates about representation and taxation have been well rehearsed, so I wish to make a single point that I sought to make in intervention on the Minister. My hon. Friend the Member for Cambridge (David Howarth) has exactly underlined the key issue. To those people who agree with the spirit of what is being attempted by this legislation it seems obvious that there is an opportunity to use loopholes to evade its intention. My question to the Minister is this: how does he believe that he can prevent the evasion of this legislation by those who use alternative means? Such means have been outlined by my hon. Friend and do not need repeating by me. It appears to me that those who are hell bent on avoiding the spirit of this legislation can still do so, for example, by using a company, as my hon. Friend has just highlighted. Although these provisions may be an improvement, the Government have nevertheless probably left enough space to enable those who are absolutely determined to continue their current practices to do so, from a distance away from the United Kingdom. We can legislate for the spirit but we cannot legislate against bad faith without doing some more. I fear that even with the best of intentions, the road to hell will continue to be paved by bad donations.