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Notices of Amendments: 26 February 2009                  

172

 

Political Parties and Elections Bill, continued

 
 

purposes and regardless of whether or not it would otherwise come within

 

subsection (1) of that section.’.

 


 

National spending limit

 

Mr Nick Clegg

 

Dr Vincent Cable

 

David Howarth

 

Mr David Heath

 

Mr Alan Reid

 

Mr Paul Burstow

 

NC10

 

To move the following Clause:—

 

‘(1)    

A registered political party may spend in total, including expenditure by its

 

national, regional, local or other organs, no more than £100 million on qualifying

 

expenditure in the period of 61 months following a general election.

 

(2)    

If more than one general election occurs within 61 months following the previous

 

general election, the Electoral Commission shall have power to increase the sums

 

referred to in (1) above by any amount it thinks appropriate.’.

 


 

National spending limits—special treatment for smaller parties

 

Mr Nick Clegg

 

Dr Vincent Cable

 

David Howarth

 

Mr David Heath

 

Mr Alan Reid

 

Mr Paul Burstow

 

NC11

 

To move the following Clause:—

 

‘Notwithstanding section [National spending limit], a registered political party

 

that contested fewer than 100 seats at the previous general election may spend in

 

total on qualifying expenditure, including expenditure by its national, regional,

 

local or other organs, no more than the sum of—

 

(a)    

£152,250 multiplied by the number of seats it contested at the previous

 

general election, and,

 

(b)    

£2,500 for each additional seat it contests in the following general

 

election at the subsequent general election multiplied by the number of

 

months between the previous general election and the following general

 

election.’.

 



 
 

Notices of Amendments: 26 February 2009                  

173

 

Political Parties and Elections Bill, continued

 
 

Qualifying expenditure

 

Mr Nick Clegg

 

Dr Vincent Cable

 

David Howarth

 

Mr David Heath

 

Mr Alan Reid

 

Mr Paul Burstow

 

NC12

 

To move the following Clause:—

 

‘(1)    

For the purposes of this Part, “qualifying expenditure” shall include expenditure,

 

whether or not intended to promote the candidacy of a particular person at a

 

particular election, on—

 

(a)    

party political and election broadcasts, including agency fees, design

 

costs and any other costs in connection with preparing or producing such

 

broadcasts;

 

(b)    

advertising of any nature (whatever the medium used) including agency

 

fees, design costs and any other costs in connection with preparing or

 

producing, distributing or otherwise disseminating such advertising or

 

anything incorporating such advertising and intended to be distributed

 

for the purpose of disseminating it;

 

(c)    

unsolicited material sent to electors, whether or not addressed to them by

 

name (including newsletters or similar publications issued by or on

 

behalf of the party with a view to giving electors in a particular electoral

 

area information about the opinions or activities of, or other personal

 

information relating to, their elected representatives or existing or

 

prospective candidates), including design costs and any other costs in

 

connection with preparing, producing and distributing such material,

 

including the cost of postage, but not including unsolicited material sent

 

to party members;

 

(d)    

any manifesto or other document setting out the party’s policies,

 

including design costs and other costs in connection with preparing or

 

producing or distributing or otherwise disseminating any such document;

 

(e)    

market research or canvassing, whether conducted in person or on the

 

telephone or by any other method, for the purpose of ascertaining polling

 

intentions or for the purpose of increasing the support of that party or

 

reducing the support of other parties;

 

(f)    

the provision of any services or facilities in connection with press

 

conferences or other dealings with the media;

 

(g)    

transport (by any means) of persons to any place or places with a view to

 

obtaining publicity for the party, its policies, its representatives or its

 

views;

 

(h)    

rallies and other events, including public meetings (but not annual or

 

other party conferences) organised so as to obtain publicity for the party,

 

its policies, its representatives or its views, including costs incurred in

 

connection with the attendance of persons at such events, the hire of

 

premises for the purposes of such events or the provision of goods,

 

services or facilities at them;

 

(i)    

subsidies or grants to other persons or bodies designed to increase

 

support for the party, its representatives or views, or to decrease support

 

for any other party, its representatives of views.

 

(2)    

Any expenditure of more than £100 per year by any person on qualifying

 

expenditure intended to benefit a registered party shall count as qualifying


 
 

Notices of Amendments: 26 February 2009                  

174

 

Political Parties and Elections Bill, continued

 
 

expenditure by that registered party, but time donated on a voluntary basis shall

 

not count as such expenditure.

 

(3)    

Expenditure by a registered party on remuneration or allowances of staff, whether

 

permanent or temporary, shall count as qualifying expenditure unless the member

 

of staff concerned works exclusively on matters not connected with the activities

 

mentioned in subsection (1)(a) to (h).

 

(4)    

The following shall not count as qualifying expenditure—

 

(a)    

any expenses in respect of any property, services or facilities so far as

 

those expenses fall to be met out of public funds;

 

(b)    

any expenses incurred in respect of an individual by way of travelling

 

expenses (by any means of transport) or in providing for his

 

accommodation or other personal needs to the extent that the expenses

 

are paid by the individual from his own resources and are not reimbursed

 

to him.’.

 


 

New Clauses and Amendments relating to Schemes for the Transfer of

 

Data to Registration Officers

 

Schemes for provision of data to registration officers

 

Secretary Jack Straw

 

NC21

 

To move the following Clause:—

 

‘(1)    

The Secretary of State may by order made by statutory instrument make provision

 

(referred to below as a “scheme”) authorising or requiring specified persons to

 

provide to a specified registration officer, for the purpose mentioned in

 

subsection (2), information contained in records kept by those persons.

 

(2)    

The purpose is assisting the registration officer to secure, so far as reasonably

 

practicable—

 

(a)    

that persons who are entitled to be registered in a register are registered

 

in it,

 

(b)    

that persons who are not entitled to be registered in a register are not

 

registered in it, and

 

(c)    

that none of the information relating to a registered person that appears

 

in a register or other record kept by the officer is false,

 

    

and, in particular, assisting the officer to ascertain to what extent the objectives

 

referred to in paragraphs (a) to (c) are being met and to determine what steps

 

should be taken for meeting them.

 

(3)    

A scheme may authorise or require information to be provided at specified times

 

or in specified circumstances.

 

(4)    

A scheme may not authorise or require information to be provided by a person

 

other than—

 

(a)    

a local or public authority, or

 

(b)    

a person providing services to, or authorised to exercise any function of,

 

a local or public authority.

 

(5)    

An order under this section may include more than one scheme.

 

(6)    

An order under this section has effect despite any statutory or other restriction on

 

the disclosure of information (but may not permit disclosure in breach of

 

subsection (7)).


 
 

Notices of Amendments: 26 February 2009                  

175

 

Political Parties and Elections Bill, continued

 
 

(7)    

Information provided to a registration officer under an order under this section

 

may not be disclosed to a person other than one to whom the officer may delegate

 

his or her functions, except—

 

(a)    

for the purpose mentioned in subsection (2), or

 

(b)    

for the purposes of any criminal or civil proceedings.

 

    

A person who discloses information in breach of this subsection is guilty of an

 

offence and liable on summary conviction to a fine not exceeding level 5 on the

 

standard scale.

 

(8)    

An order under this section may contain incidental, supplemental, transitional or

 

saving provision.

 

(9)    

An order under this section must not be made unless a draft of the statutory

 

instrument containing it has been laid before, and approved by a resolution of,

 

each House of Parliament.

 

(10)    

In this section—

 

“false”, in relation to a signature, means that the signature is not the usual

 

signature of, or was written by a person other than, the person whose

 

signature it purports to be;

 

“specified” means specified in an order under this section;

 

“register”, in relation to a registration officer, means a register maintained

 

by that officer under section 9 of the 1983 Act;

 

“registered person” means a person registered in such a register;

 

“registration officer” has the same meaning as in the 1983 Act (see section

 

8 of that Act) except that it does not include the Chief Electoral Officer

 

for Northern Ireland.’.

 


 

Schemes under section [Schemes for provision of data to registration officers]: proposals,

 

consultation and evaluation

 

Secretary Jack Straw

 

NC22

 

To move the following Clause:—

 

‘(1)    

A scheme may be included in an order under section [Schemes for provision of

 

data to registration officers] only if a proposal has been submitted to the

 

Secretary of State by the registration officer to whom the scheme relates and the

 

scheme gives effect to the proposal, either—

 

(a)    

without modification, or

 

(b)    

with modifications suggested by the Secretary of State and agreed to by

 

the officer.

 

(2)    

The Secretary of State may not make an order under section [Schemes for

 

provision of data to registration officers] without first consulting—

 

(a)    

the Electoral Commission;

 

(b)    

any person authorised or required by the order to provide information to

 

a registration officer;

 

(c)    

the Information Commissioner.

 

(3)    

An order under section [Schemes for provision of data to registration officers]

 

must specify a date (the “evaluation date”) for each scheme included in the order.

 

    

The Electoral Commission must prepare a report on the operation of each scheme

 

and, no later than the evaluation date, give a copy of it—


 
 

Notices of Amendments: 26 February 2009                  

176

 

Political Parties and Elections Bill, continued

 
 

(a)    

to the registration officer concerned, and

 

(b)    

to the Secretary of State.

 

(4)    

A report under subsection (3) must set out the terms of the scheme and must

 

contain—

 

(a)    

a description of the scheme;

 

(b)    

an assessment of the matters set out in subsection (5);

 

(c)    

anything else specified in the order under section [Schemes for provision

 

of data to registration officers].

 

(5)    

The matters are—

 

(a)    

the extent to which the scheme has achieved the purpose mentioned in

 

section [Schemes for provision of data to registration officers](2);

 

(b)    

whether there was any objection to the scheme, and if so how much;

 

(c)    

how easy the scheme was to administer;

 

(d)    

the extent to which the scheme resulted in savings of time and costs, or

 

the opposite.

 

(6)    

The registration officer concerned—

 

(a)    

must give the Electoral Commission whatever assistance they reasonably

 

require in connection with the preparation of the report;

 

(b)    

must publish the report in whatever way the officer thinks appropriate.

 

(7)    

In this section “registration officer” and “scheme” mean the same as in section

 

[Schemes for provision of data to registration officers].’.

 


 

new clauses and amendments relating to clauses 13 to 17

 

Service registration

 

Mrs Eleanor Laing

 

Mr Jonathan Djanogly

 

NC14

 

To move the following Clause:—

 

‘(1)    

The Representation of the People Act 1983 is amended as follows.

 

(2)    

In section 15 (service declaration), omit subsection (2)(a).

 

(3)    

In section 15 (service declaration), omit subsections (9), (10), (11) and (12).’.

 


 

Personal identifiers at the ballot box

 

Mrs Eleanor Laing

 

Mr Jonathan Djanogly

 

NC15

 

To move the following Clause:—

 

‘(1)    

The Representation of the People Act 1983 (“the 1983 Act”) Schedule 1

 

(Parliamentary Election Rules) shall be amended as follows.


 
 

Notices of Amendments: 26 February 2009                  

177

 

Political Parties and Elections Bill, continued

 
 

(2)    

After Rule 37(1) (ballot paper to be delivered to voter on application) there is

 

inserted—

 

“(1A)    

A ballot paper shall not be delivered to a voter unless he has produced a

 

specified document to the presiding officer or a clerk.

 

(1B)    

Where a voter produces a specified document, the presiding officer or

 

clerk to whom it is produced shall deliver a ballot paper to the voter

 

unless the officer or clerk decides that the document raises a reasonable

 

doubt as to whether the voter is the elector or proxy he represents himself

 

to be.

 

(1C)    

Where a voter produces a specified document to a presiding officer and

 

he so decides, the presiding officer shall refuse to deliver a ballot paper

 

to the voter.

 

(1D)    

Where a voter produces a specified document to a clerk and he so

 

decides, he shall refer the matter and produce the document to the

 

presiding officer who shall proceed as if the document has been produced

 

to him in the first place.

 

(1E)    

For the purposes of this rule a specified document is one of the

 

following—

 

(a)    

a valid passport issued by the government of the United

 

Kingdom or by the government of the Republic of Ireland,

 

(b)    

a valid licence to drive a motor vehicle granted under Part III of

 

the Road Traffic Act 1972 (or part III of the Road Traffic Act

 

1988) (including a provisional licence), or under Article 12 of the

 

Road Traffic (Northern Ireland) Order 1981 or any

 

corresponding enactment for the time being in force,

 

(c)    

a credit or debit card with signature,

 

(d)    

HM Forces identification card,

 

(e)    

medical card with signature on it,

 

(f)    

a local authority valid bus pass with signature on it,

 

(g)    

a valid book for the payment of allowances, benefits or pensions

 

if it has a signature in it,

 

(h)    

a tenant book if it has a signature in it,

 

(i)    

a certified copy, or extract, of an entry of marriage issued by a

 

Registrar General, where the voter producing the copy of an

 

extract is a woman married within the period of two years ending

 

with the day of the poll concerned.

 

    In sub-paragraph (i) above “a Registrar General” means the Registrar

 

General for England and Wales, the Registrar General of Births, Deaths

 

and Marriages for Scotland or the Registrar General for Northern Ireland.

 

(1F)    

Regulations may make provision varying the list in paragraph (1E)

 

(whether by adding or deleting documents or varying any description of

 

document).

 

(1G)    

References in this rule to producing a document are to producing it for

 

inspection.”.

 

(3)    

After Rule 38(1) (incapacitated voter’s vote to be marked on ballot paper on

 

application) there is inserted—

 

“(1A)    

Paragraphs (1A) to (1G) of Rule 37 shall apply in the case of a voter who

 

applies under paragraph (1) above as they apply in the case of a voter who

 

applies under Rule 37(1), but reading references to delivering a ballot


 
 

Notices of Amendments: 26 February 2009                  

178

 

Political Parties and Elections Bill, continued

 
 

paper to a voter as references to causing a voter’s vote to be marked on a

 

ballot paper.”.

 

(4)    

After Rule 39(2) (blind voter to be allowed assistance of companion on

 

application) there is inserted—

 

“(2A)    

Paragraphs (1A) to (1G) of Rule 37 shall apply in the case of a voter who

 

applies under paragraph (1) above as they apply in the case of a voter who

 

applies under Rule 37(1), but reading references to delivering a ballot

 

paper to a voter as references to granting a voter’s application.”.

 

(5)    

After Rule 40(1) (person entitled to mark tendered ballot paper after another has

 

voted) there is inserted—

 

“(1A)    

Paragraphs (1A) to (1G) of Rule 37 shall apply in the case of a person

 

who seeks to mark a tendered ballot paper under paragraph (1) above as

 

they apply in the case of a voter who applies for a ballot paper under Rule

 

37(1).

 

(1B)    

Paragraph (1C) below applies where a presiding officer refuses to deliver

 

a ballot paper to a person under paragraph (1C) of Rule 37 (including that

 

paragraph as applied by Rule 38 or 39 or this Rule).

 

(1C)    

The person shall, on satisfactorily answering the questions permitted by

 

law to be asked at the poll, nevertheless be entitled, subject to the

 

following provisions of this Rule, to mark a ballot paper (in these Rules

 

referred to as “a tendered ballot paper”) in the same manner as any other

 

voter.”.

 

(6)    

After Rule 40(4) there is inserted—

 

“(5)    

A person who marks a tendered ballot paper under paragraph (1C) above

 

shall sign the paper, unless it was marked after an application was refused

 

under Rule 38 or 39.

 

(6)    

A paper which is required to be signed under paragraph (5) above and is

 

not so signed shall be void.”’.

 


 

Individual voter registration

 

Mrs Eleanor Laing

 

Mr Jonathan Djanogly

 

NC16

 

To move the following Clause:—

 

‘(1)    

The Representation of the People Act 1983 is amended as follows—

 

(2)    

In section 10 (maintenance of registers: annual canvass), after subsection (4)

 

there is inserted—

 

“(4A)    

Subject to subsection (4B) below, the information to be obtained by the

 

use of such a form for the purpose of a canvass shall include—

 

(a)    

the signature of each of the persons in relation to whom the form

 

is completed;

 

(b)    

the date of birth of each such person; and

 

(c)    

in relation to each such person—


 
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