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Constitutional Reform and Governance Bill

It is a great pleasure to follow the hon. Member for Pendle (Mr. Prentice). If he pushes his new clause 52 to a vote, I would certainly support it. Hon. Members must understand that I come at this issue from the point of view of independent election candidates, who fight on a very unlevel playing field. To my mind, new clause 52 would level the playing field for us independents and, perhaps, the smaller parties as well. Let us look at the recent changes to the election expenses regulations. We now have a long campaign as well as a short campaign. In the long campaign we are allowed to spend £25,000, plus an amount for each constituent. What independent hopeful or smaller party has 25 grand to spend, unless they happen to be multi-millionaires? It is enough of a struggle to raise the £7,000 and a bit for the short campaign, so anything that placed more control on outside donors, with a retrospective focus on their tax status, would certainly make it rather more difficult for these super-rich people to donate to the main parties. I realise that that would not be popular with Members who belong to parties. However, in view of the desire to improve the reputation of the House and of our electoral system, I appeal to hon. Members to look at the use of rich supporters in the football league. It is well known that money buys the best footballers.