30th November 2000
133.Section 70 enables the Secretary of State by order to extend in relation to a Northern Ireland party the categories of permissible donor specified in section 54(2) or to exempt Northern Ireland parties from the scope of any or all of the provisions of Part IV of the Act. A Northern Ireland party is defined as a party registered in the Northern Ireland register (subsection (6)). The intention is to allow suitable arrangements to be made, along the lines recommended in the Neill Committee report, in recognition of the special circumstances which apply in Northern Ireland. Any order made under this section may remain in force for no longer than four years, but this is without prejudice to a further order being made (subsection (4)). To prevent a Northern Ireland party acting as a conduit for foreign donations to a party in the Great Britain register, subsection (5) provides that when an order is in force under this section a party registered in the Great Britain register may not accept a donation from a Northern Ireland party.