§ Mr. WalterI beg to move amendment No. 145, in page 82, line 5, at end insert—
`and in the Companies (Northern Ireland) Order 1986'.
Mr. Deputy SpeakerWith this it will be convenient to discuss amendment No. 175, in schedule 18, page 162, leave out lines 1 and 2.
§ Mr. WalterAmendment No. 145 highlights an important inconsistency. The provisions set out in schedule 18 will be inserted in the Companies Act 1985. That would appear to be consistent with clause 48, which says:
For the purposes of this Part the following are permissible donors … a company … registered under the Companies Act 1985—consistent so far—or the Companies (Northern Ireland) Order 1986.That order appears to be missing from part IX, and is certainly missing from clause 130 and schedule 18.I remind the Minister of the White Paper published by the Home Office, which said:
The Bill as introduced will amend the Companies Act 1985 to give effect to these conclusions.It continued:
Parallel amendments will be made to the Companies (Northern Ireland) Order 1986.There was temporary devolution to a Northern Ireland Assembly, which has now been suspended. The order to which I referred was passed by the House, and the House has the power to amend it to bring it into line with the Bill. I expect the Government to accept our amendment to expand the provision to bring Northern Ireland companies into line with those in the rest of the UK.Amendment No. 175 deals with a concern raised with hon. Members by the Confederation of British Industry, which is the definition of an EU political organisation. Schedule 18 makes it clear that such an organisation can be a political party, but goes on to say that it can also be
any other organisation which carries on, or proposes to carry on, activities of any political nature in the United Kingdom or any other member State.265 That is a catch-all phrase. What does "any political nature" mean? Does it refer to the Institute for Public Policy Research or the Centre for Policy Studies? Companies are genuinely concerned that contributions that they might make to quasi-academic organisations that produce political papers will be deemed political donations.I remind the Minister that in Committee his colleague, the Minister of State, Home Office, the hon. Member for Hornsey and Wood Green (Mrs. Roche), said:
We will need to take the issue away and reflect on it.—[0fficial Report, Standing Committee G, 10 February 2000; c. 390.]We have not heard that the Government have discussed the matter.
§ Mr. TippingWe talked about this issue at some length in Committee, and the hon. Gentleman has reinforced his points today. Suffice it to say that I recognise, as does the House, that Northern Ireland has its own companies legislation. That is a devolved issue, which the Government believe requires separate and parallel legislation. I know that my answer will be unsatisfactory to him. In view of our lengthy discussion of Northern Ireland issues earlier this evening, I suspect that we will return to this matter at a later date.
Amendment No. 175 is interesting. The hon. Gentleman says that it has been influenced by the CBI. The Government accept that the current definition of an EU political organisation is very broad and have therefore agreed to consider it further. There is to be a meeting with the CBI this coming Thursday and we shall listen to the views of the CBI. Following the meeting, I shall write to the hon. Gentleman. Again, we may need to return to the issue at a later stage.
§ Mr. WalterI expect that we shall revisit the issue in another place. In view of the assurances given by the Minister, I beg to ask leave to withdraw the amendment.
§ Amendment, by leave, withdrawn.
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