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Political Parties and Elections Act 2009

Type of Bill:
Government Bill
Sponsors:
Mr Jack Straw
Ministry of Justice
Lord Bach
Ministry of Justice

Progress of the Bill

Bill started in the House of Commons

  1. House of Commons
    1. 1st reading
    2. 2nd reading
    3. Committee stage
    4. Report stage
    5. 3rd reading
  2. House of Lords
    1. 1st reading
    2. 2nd reading
    3. Committee stage
    4. Report stage
    5. 3rd reading
  3. Consideration of Amendments
  4. Royal Assent

Last event

Act of Parliament

House Act Date
Commons Political Parties and Elections Act 2009 c.12 | PDF version, 382KB 21.07.2009

Latest news on the Political Parties and Elections Act 2009

Following agreement by both Houses on the text of the Bill it received Royal Assent on 21 July. The Bill is now an Act of Parliament.

Summary of the Political Parties and Elections Act 2009

The Bill makes some amendments to the regulation of party funding and election expenditure that is set out in the Political Parties, Elections and Referendums Act 2000. It will cover the whole of the UK.  

The Bill aims to:
  • strengthen the regulatory powers of the Electoral Commission, to provide new powers of investigation and the option of civil sanctions
  • enable political parties to put forward four extra Electoral Commissioners and relax political restrictions on staff of the Commission
  • alter the definition of ‘election expenses’ and ‘candidate’ in the Representation of the People Act 1983 to take into account spending on elections prior to the dissolution of Parliament
  • place further requirements on parties and donors to clarify the source of donations
  • amend the Representation of the People Act to provide a more flexible system for adding to the register of electors when an election is called while the register is being updated – the canvass period.

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