§ Miss WiddecombeTo ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department if the Political Parties, Elections and Referendums Bill allows for the foreign funding of(a) political parties participating in a referendum and (b) other referendum participants in (i) Northern Ireland and (ii) the rest of the United Kingdom; if it is the Government's policy to allow (A) organisations campaigning in a referendum in Northern Ireland on the constitutional status of Northern Ireland to receive funds from abroad and (B) Northern Ireland political parties subject to an exemption order from Part IV of the Bill to campaign in Great Britain in a UK-wide referendum; and if he will make a statement. [140664]
§ Mr. Mike O'BrienPart IV of the Political Parties, Elections and Referendums Bill will ban political parties from receiving foreign donations. This ban will also, under Part VII of the Bill, extend to other permitted participants in a referendum campaign in any part of the United Kingdom. However, clause 70 of the Bill makes special provision for Northern Ireland parties. It is the Government's intention to exercise the order-making power in clause 70 so as to disapply the provisions of Part IV of the Bill in respect of Northern Ireland parties for an initial period of four years. The restrictions on the acceptance of donations will be disapplied for all purposes; the Bill does not place restrictions on how or where political parties, including Northern Ireland parties, may spend funds received from a particular source.