Contribution
My Lords, there are many ways to describe the Bill. Top of my list at the moment is simply “timely”.
I point out to the representatives of the Conservative Party here, with their slightly selective memories of election history, that, in 1928, the Conservative Government extended the franchise so that women were able to vote on the same principle as men. What happened in the 1929 election? The Conservative Party lost its majority. I was originally a historian, so I do check these things out.
I will comment on four different areas: voting for 16 year-olds, caps on political donations, deepfakes and misinformation during elections, and the need for greater regulation and transparency in political advertising.
Like the noble Lord, Lord Rooker, and the noble Baroness, Lady Bennett, I have done a lot of work with Learn With The Lords. When we discuss potential voting for 16 year-olds, which I always raise, I typically say that we adults have made such a mess of the world that they are going to inherit that the sooner we give them skin in the game, particularly on issues such as climate change, the better.
The noble Lord, Lord Patten, referred briefly to Australia’s compulsory voting scheme. I just did a bit of historical homework. Believe it or not, that is now 102 years old. It was brought in after the 1922 election, which achieved a 60% voter turnout. In 1925, in the election after compulsory voting was brought in, turnout jumped up to 91%. To this day, the average voter turnout in general elections in Australia is between 88% and 92%, which slightly puts us to shame.
On caps on political donations, when I heard over the weekend of the two donations to Reform, my mind went back to my great-grandfather, in 1931, who was being pressed very strongly by two Conservative press Lords to change government policy. He made quite a well-known speech in which he accused them of having power without responsibility. There are echoes of that in the situation we are in today.
I put on the record my genuine thanks to Christopher Harborne and Ben Delo for bringing this subject into such sharp focus—conveniently, just in time for Second Reading. I am grateful for that, because one of the problems with what has happened was referred to by Mr Harborne himself, when he said he was prompted to put in his additional bid by his competitive instincts. That way lies an arms race, which is the last thing we want.
Should the Bill be retrospective? Actually, I am relaxed about that, because, based on current and recent experience of the particular party to which the money has gone, it will almost certainly fritter it away and waste it. In fact, the party may even make its situation worse rather than better. The history of most disruptor political parties around the world, particularly those that are focused on a charismatic leader who formed it, is that once that leader is out of the way or starts losing his or her faculties, the party fades away fairly quickly. I suspect that this may be the case with that party.
As far as Mr Harborne’s statement of his own priorities and why he gave money to Reform, he said that we face
“three existential threats … nuclear war, AI and climate change”.
If he thinks Mr Farage will solve any of those, let alone all three, I think he has rather wasted his £36 million.
I turn now to deepfakes and misinformation. Misinformation is not mentioned in the Bill at all. Section 106 of the Representation of the People Act 1983 covers only “personal character or conduct”, not political claims.
On greater regulation and transparency in political advertising, there should be a public repository for all paid-for digital advertising. We need to establish a clear, enforceable code of practice to prevent misinformation and disinformation. We need to restrict overseas spending on political advertising at all times, not just at elections. We should give the Electoral Commission the power to obtain information at speed from online platforms at the moment that these things happen, not waiting for a formal investigation, which is what is currently proposed. We will have a busy Committee.