03 Jul 2008
The Electoral Commission has published its response to the Government’s White Paper on party finance and expenditure in the UK.
The Commission:
- welcomes proposals to strengthen its role as a regulator by increasing its powers of investigation and enabling it to impose a more flexible range of penalties.
- does not believe that the Government’s proposals to change the make up of the Commission can be made to work without compromising confidence in its independence.
At the moment, the Commission can only obtain information from those it regulates, for example political parties and individual politicians. The Commission hopes to see enhanced powers to enable it to require evidence from anyone with relevant information. The Commission also wants a flexible range of sanctions which would allow a rigorous, yet proportionate, response to breaches of the rules on party and election finance. These new powers would include, for example, more scope for the Commission to fine parties for the late reporting of donations.
The Government has proposed reducing the ten year restriction on party political activity to one year for most staff and five years for Commissioners. They have also proposed introducing four Commissioners from political parties where no restriction would apply.
Although the Commission supports the case for relaxing the restrictions on staff, it has serious concerns about reducing the current restrictions for Commissioners and dispensing with the restriction entirely for four proposed new Commissioners.
Commissioners are required to make decisions on a number of issues including sanctions imposed on parties and politicians. There is an unavoidable risk that appointing Commissioners with recent, or current, party political allegiance would undermine public confidence in the independence of the Commission.
The Commission argues in its response that the best way of ensuring it has strong input from those with recent party political experience while preserving its independence, is to strengthen the existing mechanisms we have for consulting with political parties, such as the statutory Parliamentary Parties Panel.
Additionally, the proposal of having four new Commissioners appointed from the three main parties represented in the House of Commons, plus one from the smaller parties, is not compatible with maintaining the Commission’s legitimacy as a UK-wide body.
Sam Younger, chairman, Electoral Commission said, “We are pleased the Government has accepted our argument to strengthen the Commission with wider powers and more flexible sanctions. Whilst we agree that it is important for the Electoral Commission to have access to recent direct experience of political parties, this must not be done at the expense of our independence. The Commission has always consulted with political parties and our proposal to enhance the current arrangements with parties will address concerns on this front without jeopardising confidence in our independence.”
/ends
For further information contact
The Electoral Commission press office on 0207 271 0704
Out of office hours 07789 920414
Email press@electoralcommission.org.uk
Notes to editors
1. The Electoral Commission is an independent body set up by the UK Parliament. Our aim is integrity and public confidence in the UK’s democratic process. We regulate party and election finance and set standards for well-run elections.
2. The Parliamentary Parties Panel was established by Section 4 of the Political Parties, Elections And Referendums Act 2000. The remit of the Panel is to submit representations or information to the Electoral Commission about matters affecting political parties. The panel is composed of a representative from each of those political parties with two or more sitting MPs. There are equivalent bodies in Scotland, Wales and Northern Ireland which are currently non-statutory.
3. The Electoral Commission’s response to the Government’s White Paper on Party finance and expenditure in the UK can be found on our website www.electoralcommission.org.uk
