Party Funding

Question 1

What do all main parties receive income in the form of?

Answer 1

membership subscriptions

Question 2

Until the 1990’s where did the party of the Labour Party’s funding come from?

Answer 2

trade unions and other affiliated organisations

Question 3

What has the decline in political parties as mass-memeber organisations had an adverse impact on?

Answer 3

on party finances

Question 4

By the 1990’s which pressure group had more members than all the three main UK parties?

Answer 4

the RSPB

Question 5

Which 3 Labour leaders attempted to reduce the influence of trade unions?

Answer 5

Kinnock, Smith and Blair

Question 6

What impact did Kinnock’s, Smiths and Blairs efforts to reduce the influence of trade unions on the party have on the party?

Answer 6

falling revenues

Question 7

Which two wealthy individuals have been noted to donate to the Labour Party?

Answer 7

• Lord Ecclestone

- Lord Sainsbury

Question 8

Which two wealthy individuals have been noted to donate to the Conservative party?

Answer 8

• Sir Paul Getty

- Stewart Wheeler

Question 9

What perception was created from the rise of large individual donations to political parties in the 1990’s?

Answer 9

That one might be able to ‘buy influence’

Question 10

Who claimed to have bought influence with individual Conservative MP’s such as Neil Hammond in the closing years of John Majors time in office?

Answer 10

Mohammed Al Fayed

Question 11

Which individual Conservative MP’s did Mohammed Al Fayed claim to have bought influence from in the closing years of John Majors time in office ?

Answer 11

Neil Hammond

Question 12

What do some people feel Bernie Ecclestone’s £1 million donation to the labour party in 1997 led to ?

Answer 12

the delay in the introduction of the ban on tobacco advertising in Formula 1

Question 13

Who gave the Labour Party a £1 million donation in 1997 which led to the delay in the introduction of the ban on tobacco advertising in Formula 1 ?

Answer 13

Bernie Ecclestone

Question 14

What does the PPER Act 2000 stand for?

Answer 14

the Political Parties, Elections and Referendum Act

Question 15

What were the 2 main points of the PPER Act 2000

Answer 15

• placed overall limits on party spending in general election campaigns
• required that nationally all parties have to publicly declare all donations over £5,000

Question 16

What did the PPER Act 2000 require all parties to publicly declare?

Answer 16

all donations over £5,000

Question 17

Despite the changed made in the PPER Act 2000, what did donations to UK political parties total to in 2010?

Answer 17

£59.2 million

Question 18

What did the Labour party encourage supporters to do in order to entirely circumvent the PPER A’s regulation of donations?

Answer 18

encouraged them to pay long-term, low-interest loans instead of donations

Question 19

How did the Philips report come about?

Answer 19

it was government initiated review under the chairmanship of Sir Hayden Philips

Question 20

What did both reports which became the “Philips Report’,conclude ?

Answer 20

that the one way forward might be greater state funding for political parties

Question 21

What did the Philips Report propose as a funding formula?

Answer 21

a “pence-per-voter” or “pence-per-member”

Question 22

What are the 3 advantages of state funding ?

Answer 22

• If not funded by tax payers, will be by interest groups
• allow focus on representing constituents
• smaller parties would be on equal footing

Question 23

What are the 3 reasons against state funding ?

Answer 23

• taxpayers should not fund parties they do not support
• It is good that interest groups are at the heart of government
• Parties will always have unequal resources

Question 24

How much did UK parties receive in 2010 in public funds?

Answer 24

£8.1 million