Political Parties (Funding, Regulation, Make Up) Flashcards
Why is party funding controversial?
- favour two main parties
- large donors can be hidden and unaccountable
- scandals ‘cash for honours’ - expected peerage
- lacks regulation/limits
What was the ‘cash for peerage’ scandal 2006?
Blair nominated 4 wealthy business men who had lent labour a total of £5 million.
what were trends in party funding for Conservative party and the Green Party in 2019?
- Conservatives declined 35%
- Green increased 65%
What are examples of cash for Peerages?
- 2006 Blair nominated 4 wealthy business men who had lent labour a total of £5mil.
- 2020 1/4 peerages were Tory donors.
Define short money.
Financial support for the opposition.
What is the tax allowance Act 2014?
- Marriage tax benefits: Reduced income tax, and ability to pass money onto spouse without injuring inheritance tax.
what are potential funding reforms? (4)
- Impose restrictions on the size of individual donations to parties.
- Impose tighter restrictions on how much parties are able to spend.
- remove donations from businesses, pressure groups, and trade unions. Only individuals can donate
- Replace all funding with state grants, paid for out of general taxation.
What are arguments for parties receiving more public funding?
- Donations by individuals are disproportionate and unfair.
- Would enable smaller parties to have greater input in democracy.
- remove corruption
- State matched funding might encourage participation.
How much did parties receive 6 weeks prior to the 2019 General Election period?
- A total of £30.7 million in registered donations.
- 63% of this was donated to the Conservative Party.
Where did 60% of labours income come from in 2014-15?
Trade Unions
What did the Political Parties, Elections & Referendums Act 2000 do? (5)
- Established the Electoral Commission.
- People not on the electoral roll cannot donate (no foreign influence)
- Donations over £500 must be declared.
- Donations over £7500 must be placed on an electoral register.
- transparency
What legislation has improved transparency of party funding?
- Political Parties, Elections and Referendums Act 2000
- Political Parties & Elections Act 2009
How much funding did the Conservatives gain in donations during the 2019 election period?
63%; 19.4m
What are success factors of political parties? (7)
- manifesto
- choice of candidates/campaign
- leaders
- media
- wider political context
- unity
- opposition
What are drawbacks to funding reform? (4)
- Little public appetite as tax payers are reluctant to see their taxes pay for parties.
- large parties will be placed at an advantage.
- Hard to decide how funding will be allocated.
- Donations by individuals are willingly done and are manageable.
