POL PARTIES: party funding Flashcards
what is a pluralist democracy?
- power & infl is spread between a wide variety of groups, w fair competition between groups vying for power
what types of state funding do parties currently receive?
- policy development grants
- short money
- Cranbourne money
what are policy development grants?
- allocations of £2 million to all main parties so they can employ policy advisors
what is short money?
- money allocated to opposition parties to fund their work in the hoc. the leader o the opposition gets £800,000 to fund their office
- 2023-4: lab received £7.6 million in short money, the green party received £200,000
what is Cranbourne money?
subsidies to fund opposition parties’ work in the hol
how are election campaigns funded?
- parties shave to depend on the subscription payments of their members and donations to fund their election campaigns
how much money did opp parties receive in 2023?
- cons: £8.8 million
- lab: £7.4 million (usually further down in comparison to cons)
- reform: £100,000
- green: £220,000
how does the scale and range of party donations argueably undermine uk democ?
- large donations could lead to an expectation of influence on policy decisions and favours (quid pro quo- wealthy donations would naturally expect favourable leg in return for their cash)- undermines ffair infl for dif groups
- also cannot compete fairly if not equally funded
what was the Political Parties, Elections and Referendums Act 2000 (can write PPERA 2000 in exam)?
- set up the Independent Electoral Commision to moniter money spent by Ps at elections
- donations over £11,000 must be declared to the Electoral Commission and donations from overseas are banned
- a £54,000 spending limit in each constituency
what are ‘big money interests’?
- the interests wealthy businesses have in favourable policies ( esp after making donations)
what was the 1997 formula 1 scandal?
- prior to GE, Bernie Ecclestone, F1 boss, had donated £1 million to lab, which naturally helped them campaign & win GE
- few months after GE, F1 were exempt from a ban on tobacco advertising, which can be seen as a favour in response to the money; quid pro quo
who was Sir Michael Hintze?
- faced scrutiny over his company’s tax affairs
- donated £1.5 million in 2014 to cons
- biggest donation in 6 years
- hedge funds recieved a £150 million tax break- seen as in return
- he was also awarded w a peerage
what is the ‘Leaders Group’?
- cons
- people who donate £5000+ a year- enjoy privilidges and events w the PM
who were lab heavily funded by under Ed Milliband
over 3/4 of decalred funds came from trade unions
what did the 2011 Commission for Standards in Public Life recommend?
- annual cap of £10,000 on annual single donations & trade unions to incl an ‘opt-in’ clause to agree for portion of their subscrioption to be paid to the lab party
how much did the Committe for Standards in Public Life estimate state funding would cost each voter?
- only 50p per year
- a small price to pay for improving the health of UK democracy
- counter the inflated infl of big money in a time of austerity
how does Canada provide state funding to promote pluralism?
- provides state funding by the vote- parties such as the Green Party struggling to gain 1 seat under majoritarian system would recieve equiviliant of $1.9 million to reflect this increasing level of popular suppport
- this ensures pol Ps reflect the make up of society- this may go further and cause Ps to be required to field a balanced no of female/ ethnic minority candidates
what would defenders of private donations call them?
- freedom of expression- st funding woull deny this & free speech
- ppl have the right to supp & sustain causes they believe in- pol Ps have no less a right than charities & other orgs - denying opps for ppl to supp what they believe in destroys basic principle of liberal democracy
- a form of participation- can’t erode this in a crisis
how can priv donations be used to hold Ps tp account?
- withdrawing by usual donors
what effectiveregulation alr exists from the PPERA 2000?
- respponded to rich weilding excessive infl- capped local & national spending
- Ps must disclose all donations of G & S worth over £5000 nationally & £1000 locally
- overseas illegal
- have been effective- total spending in 2010= less than £30million, similiar to the £28.2million spent solely by cons P in 1997
how would st funding make Ps less independent?
- would disconnect them from supporters- erode requirement for Ps to offer attractive, relevant, appealing proposals
what questions of practicality does state funding raise?
- do PGs count?
- independents?
how’s it measured? - taxes- in a time of austerity and public service cuts, should st divert fin of Ps?
why are ‘out-spending’ arguements not rlly valid?
- cons always funded more than lab in last 25 years yet have lost 3 out of 5 elections
