division_name: Orders of the Day &#8212; Political Parties and Elections Bill
motion: <p class="" pid="b.41.4/1" pwmotiontext="yes">I beg to move, That the Bill be now read a Second time.</p>
  
  <p class="" pid="b.41.4/2" pwmotiontext="yes">Shortly after Labour's general election victory in 1997, to implement a key manifesto commitment, our then Prime Minister invited the Committee on Standards in Public Life, under its then chairman, Lord Neill of Bladen, to conduct a major inquiry into the funding of political parties. Lord Neill's report was published in 1998. It was followed by a White Paper and draft Bill that I published in 1999. The process of consultation on that draft Bill culminated in the passage of what became the Political Parties, Elections and Referendums Act 2000 in autumn that year.</p>
  
  <p class="" pid="b.53.0/1" pwmotiontext="yes">I beg to move, To leave out from "That" to the end of the Question, and to add instead thereof:</p>
  
  <p class="indent" pid="b.53.0/2" pwmotiontext="yes">"this House declines to give a Second Reading to the Political Parties and Elections Bill, because it imposes arbitrary and partisan new local spending rules at the end of a Parliament, which are designed to give an unfair advantage to Labour hon. Members in marginal seats in the forthcoming general election, proposes the commencement of vague trigger rules at Royal Assent, before Electoral Commission guidance has been produced, in contravention of the Government Code of Practice on Guidance on Regulation, contains new powers of entry into people's homes which risk undermining public confidence in giving to political parties, imposes disproportionate additional costs on local constituency associations and voluntary political parties, fails to tackle growing concern over electoral fraud, and lacks a comprehensive package of proposals to restore trust in politics, which would include the introduction of individual voter registration and an across-the-board cap on donations covering individuals, business and the trade unions."</p>
  
  <p pid="b.123.2/1" pwmotiontext="yes"><i> Question put, </i>That the amendment be made:&#8212;</p>
  
  <p pid="b.123.2/2" pwmotiontext="yes"><i> The House divided:</i> Ayes 196, Noes 290.</p>