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Would you be happy for political parties, including those you disagree with, being solely funded by the state?
This happens already to some degree, but it’s not much. Can’t quite remember the details but it’s not just a £X/seat funding, it’s something more proportional to votes I believe.
I’d be in favour of capping donations by some multiple of the median wage, and upping the party funding per vote, for what it’s worth.
(Edit: I don't think businesses should be able to donate either, just individuals, to maintain at least some sense that democracies are about people, not money)
(Edit 2: and not to individual MPs, just parties)
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Money buys influence and power in our system. If I had £300m, Keir Starmer would be more disposed to listen to my views, just as he is disposed to listen to Lord Alli's now. That cannot be right. My suggestions are:
1). There should be no donations of entertainment and holidays allowed. I can't see any justification for an MP being given tickets to a Taylor Swift concert, or holiday flight to New York. The sole purpose is to buy access and influence.
2). The cost of politics should be reformed, reducing the number of MPs and lords dramatically. In turn, the salary of MPs and ministers should be raised to be competitive with the private sector. There should also be proper state funding for each MPs staffing costs, but MPs should not be permitted to have any additional non-state funded researchers. The whole apparatus around MPs staffing should also be reformed, and adminstered via a new centralised HR body.
3). There should be a significant increase in the level of state funding allocatable to political parties, divided on a formula of vote share and elected representatives at a local, regional and national level. I don't know what that formula should be.
4). Parties should be able to raise a capped amount of funds per annum, to allow the entry of new political parties, but that cap should be set quite low. In addition, there ought to be donation caps.
What is the net cost of all this? I don't know, but I think probably in the order of £500m per annum, and maybe a lot less. In the grand scheme of things it would be a worthwhile investment with huge benefits for the operation of democracy in this country.
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Genuine question for those who think Labour politicians shouldn’t accept donations; given that our political system is funded by donors, how would you propose to change it to remove that potential influence? Would you be happy for political parties, including those you disagree with, being solely funded by the state?