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PARTY FUNDING - Coggle Diagram
PARTY FUNDING
Methods of funding:
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Short money:
The funds given to opposition parties to facilitate their parliamentary work. The size of the grant per party is decided based both on vote share and number of seats (because they are not necessarily representative of one another). This allows small parties (e.g. the Green Party to improve their campaign and hire more people) and larger parties to prepare themselves for government.
2019 GENERAL ELECTION STATS: In the six weeks prior to the 2019 elections, UK political parties received a total of £30.7m in donations. The conservative party won 63% whilst labour won 18% and UKIP won 13.5%. Donations by individuals made up 62%, 21% were made by companies and 16% by trade unions. Individual donations made up 71% of all money received by the conservative party compared to only 6% for labour. 93% of labour donations came from trade unions.
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STATE FUNDING:
AGAINST:
- Would mean that the state were intervening with political processes. It may create a bias in favour of existing parties if the level of state funding reflects past party performance measures in terms of votes cast in preceding elections
- It's another thing for taxpayers to have to pay for. The public already distrusts politicians with public money following the ‘expenses scandal’ of 2009 while the public do not like to idea of their money going to a party they do not support
A reliable income stream to parties from the state may weaken their links to larger society. Parties currently need to reach out to society to recruit members and to seek donations meaning they have to listen. Blair looked to reduce the party’s reliance on trade union money but attracting a wider range of donors, while Corbyn generated a healthy membership income stream due to a large increase in membership and looked to attract smaller donations to increase links to wider society. The conservative party has also looked to reach out to society by expanding its base, increasing its membership from 124,000 in 2018 to 160,000 in 2019 as new members joined in order to have a say in the leadership election.
FOR:
- It would reduce biased intervention from individuals
- The current regulatory framework is inadequate. Since passing PPERA in 2000, allegations that donations secure peerages and political influence have continued. These regulations have also failed to create a level playing field for smaller parties and are out of date due to social media. Cost to taxpayers would be relatively small with the parties requiring around £25m per year of taxpayer’s money.
State funding could be allocated based on an agreed measure of parties’ popularity and democratic engagement.
‘Political Parties, Elections & Referendums Act 2002’?
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