Four days in Westminster this week, then heading north on Friday to open the Trinity Court Housing Project of ISOS, and appear on the Sunday Politics in the North East on BBC1. The Westminster week features a private meeting with the Business Minister Michael Fallon today, Justice Questions on the issue of prison reform tomorrow plus further debate on the Lobbying Bill this week. I also have meetings with Richard Benyon, the Agriculture Minister and the key officers of the APG on Arch Cru are having a meeting with Hugh Aldous, the man charged with the task of recovering as many of the losers money as is possible in this sorry saga. I will try and get called at PMQs on Wednesday.
On the issue of the Lobbying Bill it is still being revised and I welcome all the emails I have received. On this occasion I have not gone through all the 38 Degrees legal advice or responded piecemeal as the Bill is constantly changing in Committee and debate, which is what happens on all Bills - a fact that seems to pass by the 38 degrees organisation. We spend days responding to the 38 degrees campaigns, and will send out the full response at the conclusion of the Bill process, but the key point is this:
The registration and spending limits apply to all third parties that incur controlled expenditure. Charities and any other third parties, will only be required to register and then comply with the spending limits, if they are undertaking activities that can reasonably be regarded as intended to promote or procure the electoral success of a party or candidate.
The Bill, put simply, requires those who want to influence the outcome at a General Election to be transparent in doing so, while preserving the freedom to speak out on issues which Civil Society has always enjoyed in this country.
Bear in mind my campaign budget in Hexham at the last election was around £10,000 - the figure is restricted by law, and the expenditure very tightly controlled and fully transparent. A similar rule applies for county council elections. Any third party charity or campaign group can outspend the
candidate by many times. I do not consider such very limited regulation of third party, charities, and campaign groups to be wrong.
Making this process more transparent is a good thing in my view. As I say, I read all the emails and will happily respond to individual voters and the actual 38 Degrees team - who now will interestingly not reply to my letters - but it is my intention to vote for the Bill.
