{"id":8478,"date":"2025-02-25T11:43:48","date_gmt":"2025-02-25T11:43:48","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.electoral-reform.org.uk\/?p=8478"},"modified":"2025-02-26T14:03:43","modified_gmt":"2025-02-26T14:03:43","slug":"rebuilding-trust-in-politics-starts-with-repairing-the-rules-on-funding","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/electoral-reform.org.uk\/rebuilding-trust-in-politics-starts-with-repairing-the-rules-on-funding\/","title":{"rendered":"Rebuilding trust in politics starts with repairing the rules on funding"},"content":{"rendered":"
\n
\n

Earlier this month the Electoral Commission heads appeared before a House of Commons select committee with stark warnings about the dangers of failing to address the problems with political finance. Commenting on the existing rules EC Chair John Pullinger said that the system has \u201ca series of weaknesses that do need to be addressed\u00a0now, if we\u00a0are\u00a0not to\u00a0face\u00a0some even more damaging consequences for public trust in the system.\u201d<\/p>\n

It’s time to tackle big money in politics<\/strong><\/h3>\n

At the Electoral Reform Society, we have long argued that big money is a problem for politics and the current political finance rules are in desperate need of updating<\/a>.<\/p>\n

We agree with the Electoral Commission\u2019s call for reform, particularly in three key areas:<\/p>\n

    \n
  1. Preventing foreign profits from influencing UK politics<\/strong> \u2013 companies shouldn\u2019t be able to donate money not made in the UK.<\/li>\n
  2. Closing donation loopholes <\/strong>\u2013 increasing transparency, especially around donations from unincorporated associations<\/a><\/li>\n
  3. Introducing \u2018know your donor\u2019 checks <\/strong>\u2013 so parties properly screen who\u2019s funding them.<\/li>\n<\/ol>\n

    But it shouldn\u2019t stop there, it\u2019s important that we prevent impermissible donations from overseas and guard against foreign influence, but we also need to address the impact of legal but potentially damaging, large scale donations.<\/p>\n

    A handful of donors are holding too much power<\/strong><\/h3>\n

    Party funding remains dominated by the big spenders \u2013 in the two decades between 2001 and 2021, a fifth of all major political came from just 10 individuals<\/a>. That\u2019s not healthy for our democracy \u2013 so few voices shouldn\u2019t carry that much power.<\/p>\n

    That is why it is so encouraging to see this issue raised in parliament last week with a new Private Member\u2019s Bill tabled on political donations. This bill, put forward by the MP for Stratford-Upon-Avon, Manuela Perteghella, seeks to place a cap on political donations. Introducing the bill they said, \u201cIntroducing a cap on political donations is not about limiting participation; it is about making sure that every vote, every voice and every citizen matters equally in our political system.\u201d<\/em><\/p>\n

    We couldn\u2019t agree more. A donations cap is a crucial tool in ensuring our politics cannot be bought by the highest bidder.<\/p>\n

    Voters want action<\/strong><\/h3>\n

    Our research shows that voters are deeply concerned about the impact of money in politics. In fact, big money is the top electoral integrity concern among the public. And it\u2019s easy to see why \u2013 Electoral Commissions data reveals that confidence in financial transparency has been in long-term, steady decline. Last year, only 15% of people agreed that political spending and funding is transparent<\/a>.<\/p>\n

    When people believe that money can buy influence, it damages trust in our democratic institutions. And right now, that trust is already running low.<\/p>\n

    It\u2019s time to fix the system. We need bold reforms to political finance \u2013 because democracy should work for everyone, not just the wealthiest few.<\/p>\n

    Do you want to ensure that it\u2019s ordinary voters, not big donors, that are calling the shots?<\/h4>\n

    Add your name to make your voice heard\u00a0\u2192<\/a> <\/div>\n<\/div>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

    Earlier this month the Electoral Commission heads appeared before a House of Commons select committee with stark warnings about the dangers of failing to address the problems with political finance. Commenting on the existing rules EC Chair John Pullinger said that the system has \u201ca series of weaknesses that do need to be addressed\u00a0now, if […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":22,"featured_media":8479,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[131],"tags":[232],"class_list":["post-8478","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-money-in-politics","tag-money-in-politics","feature-category-comment"],"acf":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/electoral-reform.org.uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/8478","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/electoral-reform.org.uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/electoral-reform.org.uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/electoral-reform.org.uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/22"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/electoral-reform.org.uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=8478"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/electoral-reform.org.uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/8478\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/electoral-reform.org.uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/8479"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/electoral-reform.org.uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=8478"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/electoral-reform.org.uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=8478"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/electoral-reform.org.uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=8478"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}