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Question 1

Money for MPs

Answer 1

• Basic salary is £86,584 as of April 2023
• Additional salary paid for appointments or additional duties e.g. ministerial appointments, being a whip, chairing a select committee
• able to claim allowances to cover cost of running an office & maintaining a constituency residence or a residence in London

Question 2

Political party funding

Answer 2

• method used by a political party to raise money for campaigns and routine activities.
• One of the largest sources of funding comes from party members and individual supporters through membership fees, subscriptions and small donations.
  -Membership subscriptions
• Donations: Tories relies on donations mostly from individuals and companies. Labour receives a significant portion from trade unions. Donations typically peak before elections.

Question 3

Donations

Answer 3

• Tories relies on donations mostly from individuals and companies. Labour receives a significant portion from trade unions
• Donations typically peak before elections
  Donations worth over £7,500 to national parties must be declared
• Cash-for-Honours scandal: about connection between political donations & awarding of life peerages.

Question 4

Short money

Answer 4

• annual payment to opposition parties in HoC to help them with their costs
• named after Edward Short, who proposed scheme in 70s
• Aim is to promote an effective opposition
• financial assistance is crucial for smaller parties with smaller resources

Question 5

The Political Parties, Elections and Referendums Act 2000 (PPERA)

Answer 5

• aims to promote transparency, accountability, and fairness in the financing of political activities
• led to the establishment of the Electoral Commission to monitor party spending on elections
• Capped amount party could spend per constituency at £30,000
• donatios of more than £5,000 had to be declared
• donations from individuals not on electoral roll were banned

Question 6

Phillips review 2007

Answer 6

• commissioned by Tony Blair in the wake of cash-for-honours
• £50,000 donation cap (particularly bad for Labour which is largely financed by multimillion-pound donations from affiliated unions)
• around £20m-25m a year of taxpayers’ money to help fund political parties

Question 7

Arguments for state funding of parties

Answer 7

• Enhance representative democracy
• remove disparity in resources to big & small parties
• Curb possibly corrupt influence of private bankers on party policy

Question 8

Edmund Burke Trustee Model of Governance:

Answer 8

• Representatives owe their constituents their conscience, not blind adherence to public opinion.
• Importance of distinguishing between representatives and delegates.
• Elected officials possess greater wisdom than the public but are accountable through elections.

Question 9

Edmund Burke Approach to Change:

Answer 9

• Rejects technocratic expertise in favor of reflection on the past and caution in action.
• Emphasizes the wisdom of common sense and the necessity of change for societal preservation (“a state without the means of change is without the means of its conservation”).