Baroness Goudie (Lab)

My Lords, I welcome the Representation of the People Bill and the Government’s determination to protect British democracy from any foreign or illicit interference. I support the Bill’s ambition to extend the vote to 16 and 17-year-olds, having joined the Wembley South Young Socialists when I was 17. I particularly support the modification of the voter registration system so that eligible citizens are not left off the electoral register due to mere administrative oversight. Alongside strengthening the Electoral Commission’s enforcement powers, these measures will make our elections much more secure and inclusive. I particularly welcome the provisions on political donations. The cap of £100,000 a year on donations from overseas electors, and the moratorium on donations via crypto assets—of which I have very few, yet I worry about this all the time—are vital and respond directly to risks identified by the Rycroft review. I welcome all the points made in the review. These tackle the practical difficulties of tracing true ownership of crypto assets, donations and the routes through which foreign money might otherwise reach our political system and influence our country, without proper scrutiny. There is also the issue of tighter scrutiny of company donations. Company donations should go to the board regardless of the size of the company. They should be agreed by the board, and the chair of the risk committee should also be involved. We should look in particular at global boards to see whether the money is coming from Britain PLC or from other countries. We need much tighter scrutiny of company donations. I turn to think tanks and campaigning organisations, both of which I have been involved in over the years. Think tanks which seek to influence and develop public policy and campaign for changes in the law should be required to record and publish the amount and source of all the donations received, on the same basis as political parties. This is vital because, as I know, money comes in to think tanks from various sources. We are always grateful to those individual donors and foundation donors, but at the same time we have to be much tougher on that. Single-source donations of more than £11,180 per calendar year to a think tank should be reported to the Electoral Commission, and that information would then be published on the website. We also need to look more clearly at campaigning organisations, in which all of us in this Chamber have worked and will continue to work. You are not necessarily required to show your accounts or where your funding comes from; you are just running a short campaign, you say—but where do the funds come from to keep us all working? Even if you do not employ anybody, where do the funds come from for the telephones, the media and so on? We need to look at campaigning organisations as well. This is one aspect of electoral funding ultimately left unaddressed by Rycroft and by this legislation. The use of think tanks funded, as I have said, by unknown sources and foreign money to influence our politics should concern us all. Does the Minister agree that think tanks and charities, like political parties, should be required to report and publish information on their donations? I would add campaigning organisations to that. The provisions making hostility towards candidates and election staff an aggravating factor in sentencing are particularly welcome. Women in public life continue to face disproportionate abuse and intimidation online and in person, which deters many talented women from standing at all. Any strengthening of protection here is strengthening our democracy. This is vital. Also, why are people scared of women? I really find this terrible and I hope that one day we will find out what their fear of us really is about.