Our response to the Political Parties and Elections Bill
Following the Government's White Paper on party finance, the Political Parties and Elections Bill was introduced to Parliament in July. In our response to the Bill (PDF) we welcomed the proposals to strengthen the Commission by providing it with wider investigative powers and a more flexible range of sanctions to be used when the rules on party and election finances are broken. We also raised concerns about some of the proposals to change the make-up of the Commission.
In November the Commission gave evidence to the Public Bill Committee, which has now completed its consideration of the Bill. Commons Report and Third Reading are expected early in the New Year. An update on the Commission's view of the Bill as it came out of Committee can be found below:
Update on the Political Parties and Elections Bill as amended in Public Bill Committee (PDF)
Briefings issued by the Commission during Committee are provided below. Please note that clause numbers have changed and new clauses introduced into the updated version of the Bill as amended at Committee. For ease of reference the following table shows where this is the case:
Commission evidence to the Bill Committee:
- Our written evidence to the Public Bill Committee
- Our oral evidence to the Public Bill Committee
- Follow up memorandum (in response to issues arising during our oral evidence session
- Memorandum of the Commission's intended use of its investigatory powers
Commission Briefing Notes to the Bill Committee:
- Our briefing paper on Clauses 1 to 7 and Schedules 1 and 2 of the Bill (PDF)
- Our briefing paper on Clauses 12 and 13 and New Clauses 1, 7, 8 14, 15, 17 to 20 of the Bill (PDF)
- Our briefing paper on Clauses 8 to 11, Schedule 3, New clauses 3, 4, 9 to 13, 16, 20, 22 and 23 and New Schedule 1 of the Bill (PDF)
The following briefings were also issued by the Committee at earlier stages in the Bill's progress and development:
