Party Funding

Question 1

Short money

Answer 1

public money given to opposition parties to help them with their parliamentary duties, not election or campaigning expenses. Calculated on basis of number of seats and votes won
Extra income for leader of opposition

Question 2

Cranborne money

Answer 2

similar scheme as short money for largest and second largest opposition party in HoL

Question 3

Who oversees party finance?

Answer 3

Electoral Commission

Question 4

What must parties submit?

Answer 4

audited annual accounts

Question 5

What does the Commission do?

Answer 5

monitors publishes details of party spending during elections

Question 6

What donations must be declared?

Answer 6

any over £7,500

Question 7

Spending allowance on elections

Answer 7

£54,010 for each constituency they stand in

Question 8

Funding April-June 2024

Answer 8

Reform- £2.5mil
Conservatives- £16.1mil
Labour- £28.5mil
Green- £296,706

Question 9

benefits of state funding

Answer 9

level playing field, allow small parties to shine through, if based off voters opinions- more democratic, stop cronyism

Question 10

negatives of state funding

Answer 10

people don’t want to fund parties they don’t like, could further entrench main parties, unneeded-already monitored

Question 11

YouGov poll on Reform

Answer 11

March 2025- 49% voters would never consider voting for them
Feb 2025- 55% said they were extreme

Question 12

Cronyism

Answer 12

Favouritism towards people or company’s based on their donations

Question 13

Cronyism example

Answer 13

Johnson appointed Lord Cruddas 2021, gave £500k just 3 days after taking his seat