article_snippet: Any attempt to breach legal rules around party donations is a very serious matter.
article_snippet: It is most unfortunate that the Lib Dems seem to be encouraging people to get round the legal provisions of party funding rules.
article_snippet: ’ last night it emerged that the Lib Dems had agreed to hand back Mr Taguri’s Commons pass after accepting ’s Commons should not have had one as ’s Commons raised the prospect of ’s Commons using the Parliamentary estate for fundraising purposes.
article_snippet: Sir Alastair said: ‘It is against the rules to carry out party political campaigning in ’s Commons, so allowing ’s Commons to have a pass could be in breach of the rules.
article_snippet: You’d class fundraising as party political campaigning.
article_snippet: Commission guidance, issued in 2007 in the wake of a scandal of ‘proxy’ donations to Labour, says giving money via a third party ‘must not be used as an attempt to evade the controls on permissibility and transparency’.
highlights_snippet: Senior Lib Dems were filmed talking about bypassing party finance laws .
  