Key Benefits
The Bill would enact some of the proposals set out in the Government’s June 2008 White Paper Party finance and expenditure in the United Kingdom: The Government’s proposals. These measures would strengthen the regulation of the funding and spending of political parties, while wider debate on long-term fundamental reform of party finance continues.
The Bill includes provisions to:
Strengthen the Electoral Commission so that it is better equipped to regulate party spending and political donations – both through giving it greater powers and sanctions, and through reforming its governance so that it can benefit from Commissioners with recent experience of politics;
Increase the transparency of donations to provide more information about the ultimate source of a donation;
Bring in more effective controls on candidates’ spending through the reintroduction of the ‘trigger’;
Allow electors applying to vote on household canvass forms to be registered during the canvass period, to prevent the potential disenfranchisement of electors in the event of an election during that period; and
Allow for the administration of European Parliament elections by local authority (rather than Parliamentary) returning officers, to help ensure the successful delivery of elections in the future.
