Elections: Political Party Spending

Debate between Lord Rennard and Baroness Taylor of Stevenage

Monday 9th June 2025 Lords Chamber

[Lord Rennard]

To ask His Majesty’s Government whether they have plans to regulate spending by political parties on elections further, including by applying a national expenditure limit every year, not just in the year before a general election, or by lowering the national expenditure limit.

[The Parliamentary Under-Secretary of State, Ministry of Housing, Communities and Local Government (Baroness Taylor of Stevenage) (Lab)]

My Lords, robust party spending and reporting rules are already in place. The Government do not have current plans to review the spending limits, but we are committed to maintaining the level playing field and the integrity of elections. In line with our manifesto commitment, our focus is on safeguarding our democracy by strengthening the regulations on political party donations. We plan to set out further details on that in our strategy for elections, which we expect to publish this summer.

[Lord Rennard (LD)]

My Lords, last week Elon Musk claimed that, without his $300 million donation, Trump would have lost the election. Does the Minister accept that democracy in this country should not be for sale and that millions of votes should count for more than millions of pounds? Given their commitment to a level playing field, will the Government act to bring in a cap on the size of donations that can be made to parties? Will they reverse the 80% increase in national spending limits brought in by the previous Conservative Government and opposed by Labour when in opposition? Will they introduce spending limits that apply every year, not just in the year before an election?

[Baroness Taylor of Stevenage (Lab)]

My Lords, many things are said on social media, including by Elon Musk, and I am aware that he is a prolific user of his own platform. There has been much discussion of his words and their impact; I do not want to dignify them with any further reaction in this Chamber. On the capping of donations, those who participate in electoral campaigns must also follow the donation and spending rules set out in law. It is the responsibility of those receiving political donations to take steps to ensure they are permissible, and we will take any necessary steps to ensure those requirements are tightened and abided by. There is no current priority on capping donations, but we are very keen on strengthening the rules around how donations work.

Local Government: Electoral Quotas

Debate between Lord Rennard and Baroness Taylor of Stevenage

Tuesday 11th February 2025 Lords Chamber

[Baroness Taylor of Stevenage (Lab)]

My noble friend is absolutely correct. There has to be a focus on numbers to ensure that they are roughly equitable, but there are also other important considerations. Reflecting local communities and their interests is part of the boundary commission’s work, as is responding to local views. Whenever we have reviews of electoral boundaries, those local views should be properly taken into account. I will of course try to ensure that this continues.

[Lord Rennard (LD)]

My Lords, is it not a bigger problem that many local councils are unrepresentative of their electorates? They can even become one-party states, because of the first past the post system entrenching the same party in power for decades. Is it not time that England followed Scotland, Northern Ireland and Wales in holding council elections with proportional representation so that council composition properly reflects the votes cast?

[Baroness Taylor of Stevenage (Lab)]

I have heard this view from the Liberal Democrats for many years in local government. The first past the post system means that the electorate decide who is in charge of our local councils. That is up to them. It is a straightforward system which is widely appreciated by the people who engage with it. That is not to say that we cannot do more to encourage involvement in local elections. We will continue to do so.

Political Parties: Funding

Debate between Lord Rennard and Baroness Taylor of Stevenage

Wednesday 15th January 2025 Lords Chamber

[Baroness Taylor of Stevenage (Lab)]

My Lords, the law is already clear that accepting or facilitating foreign campaign donations is illegal. Only those with a legitimate interest in UK electoral events can donate to candidates or political parties. Donations from individuals not on the electoral register are not permitted and strict rules are in place to make sure that foreign money is prohibited from entering through proxy donors, providing a safeguard against impermissible donations by the back door. We are looking at ways to make this even stronger. It is an offence to attempt to evade those rules on donations.

[Lord Rennard (LD)]

My Lords, does the Minister accept that there can be problems with very large donations to political parties, whether they may originate from abroad or be clearly from within the UK, and that the only way to prevent undue influence on political parties is to ban company donations and have a sensible cap on the size of all other donations? Does she then agree that political parties would still be able to campaign effectively if existing public funding was redistributed—for example, from the £100 million spent by the Government in the last two general elections on distributing candidates’ election addresses—and given to the parties to spend as they saw fit?

[Baroness Taylor of Stevenage (Lab)]

I take it that that was a question about a cap on donations. That is not a current priority for the Government, but strengthening the rules around donations really is. Political parties play a vital role in our democracy, and it is important that they are able to fundraise effectively and communicate with the electorate as a very important part of our process. By law, it is the responsibility of political parties to take all reasonable steps to verify their donors and whether they are permissible. We will take necessary steps to ensure that those requirements are tightened and stuck to.