2.1- party funding

Question 1

what is short money

Answer 1

money recieved by opposition parties with 2 or more seats in the commons OR with more than 1 seat and more than 150,000 votes

Question 1

give an example of corruption in party funding

Answer 1

Bernie Ecclestone- motor racing boss, believed that his donation of 1 million to labour was linked with the delay in banning tobacco advertising in F1.

Question 2

What are the arguments FOR state funding of political parties

Answer 2

• the money would be ‘clean’ as it would not be connected to the wants of individuals.
• would enable MPS to focus more on constituent needs rather and govening rather than funding
• greater equality, more proportional allocation of funding, allows smaller parties more funding

Question 3

Give arguments against state funding of politics

Answer 3

• may isolate parties from public wishes as they no longer rely on their support (through donations) outside of elections
• funding based on seats may perpetuate funding between parties, and smaller parties will struggle to fund
• alienates voters from their money: they loose control over who they donate too
• current system ensures parties are independent from the state

Question 4

how has party loyalty changed? give evidence to support this.

Answer 4

• in1964 44% claimed to have a ‘very strong’ attachment to one party
  this had falled by almost 10% by 2005

Question 5

how has concervative membership changed?

Answer 5

from 3 million in the 1960s to 172,000 in 2022

Question 6

How much has the Union Unite given to the Labour Party in the last parliamentary session

Answer 6

8 million.

Question 7

How did funding of the Labour Party change under Corbyn, and give a stat to support this?

Answer 7

• shift towards smaller donations
• received a total of 18 million in 2017 of this kind

Question 8

What was the recent conservative party controversy with party funding?

Answer 8

• frank hester gave 10 million to the party
• Frank Hester made comments that “Dianne Abbot made him want to shoot all black women”
• he has received many contracts through the NHS

Question 9

in 2021 how much money did the labour paty recieve from membership? how does this compare to the conservatives?

Answer 9

labour recieved over £16 million
conservatives recieved around £2 million from membership fees

Question 10

in 2021 what % of total labour income came from union affiliation?

Answer 10

13%

Question 11

in 2021 how much money did labour recieve in public funding?

Answer 11

almost £7 million

Question 12

how much did the lib dems recieve in 2021/2022 in public funding?

Answer 12

almost 1.3 million pounds

Question 13

in 2021 how much did the torys recieve in individual donations and what proportion does this make up of their total funding? what did the labour party recieve?

Answer 13

• they recieved over £20 million
• this makes up 65% of total funding
• labour recieved just under 10 million

Question 14

what legislation has been introduced to regulate funding?

Answer 14

• the political parties and referndums act
• donations over 7500 must be declared
• mps must report loans and donations over 500

Question 15

explain the funding scandal under tony blair.

Answer 15

cash for peerages scandal 2006- 2007
- suggested link between individuals who had donated large ammounts to the labour party and peerages awarded by tony blair
- the nominations were rejected by the HOL appointment commision

Question 16

explain the funding scandal under boris johnson.

Answer 16

• lord curddas was made a peer in 2021, days after he made his largest donation yet of half a million pounds
• the appointment was made despite it being rejected by the HOL appointment commision