Tag Archives: party funding

Stephen Tall

6 essential steps to help clean up the reputation of British politics

By Stephen Tall | Mon 26th March 2012 - 9:15 am

We’ve been here before: many times, under many different governments. The latest addition to the lexicon of big money politics scandals is Peter Cruddas’s crude cash-for-access fundraising, with influence on government policy touted for £250,000 a pop. Under Labour, we witnessed the Bernie Ecclestone affair, as well as the cash-for-honours scandal.

To date this shared complicity — the “all parties are as bad as each other” mentality — has served only the interests of senior politicians in justifying the continuing scandal of how big money talks …

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Stephen Tall

Another big money political scandal: can Lib Dems force Tories & Labour to take it seriously this time?

By Stephen Tall | Sun 25th March 2012 - 11:53 am

Let’s remember the words of David Cameron two years ago:

… there is another big issue that we can no longer ignore. It is the next big scandal waiting to happen. It’s an issue that crosses party lines and has tainted our politics for too long, an issue that exposes the far-too-cosy relationship between politics, government, business and money. I’m talking about lobbying – and we all know how it works. The lunches, the hospitality, the quiet word in your ear, the ex-ministers and ex-advisors for hire, helping big business find the right way to get its way. In this party, we believe in competition, not cronyism. We believe in market economics, not crony capitalism. So we must be the party that sorts all this out.

Now let’s fast-forward to the words of the Tories’ leading fundraiser (until last night):

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Chris Davies

Chris Davies MEP writes… To tithe or not to tithe?

By Chris Davies | Fri 17th February 2012 - 4:26 pm

Money is tight. The party is far from being flush with cash and there is not enough in the coffers to fund the level of campaigning we need. We rely heavily on voluntary donations, and equity demands that we dust off a recommendation of the 2008 Bones Report – the one calling for Lib Dems at every level of government to give a proportion of their income to support activities that can enhance the effectiveness of the party.

Most councillors already do this, donating 5-10% of their allowances. ALDC even provides model standing orders that require each voting member of a …

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Stephen Tall

Clegg resurrects party funding talks, appoints Laws as Lib Dem negotiator

By Stephen Tall | Sun 12th February 2012 - 2:35 pm

Earlier this week The Guardian reported that Nick Clegg ‘is to revive all-party talks on party funding admitting that extra state funding is off the table, but insisting a wider deal is still possible’:

Clegg as deputy prime minister is responsible for constitutional affairs, and was not taking the initiative as Lib Dem leader. The aim would be to set out heads of agreement on a range of issues by Easter. This high-level agreement would cover individual and company donor limits, the treatment of union affiliates, spending caps at elections and the distribution of existing state funding between parties, currently

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Mark Pack

The trade unions could be doing Ed Miliband – and all of us – a favour

By Mark Pack | Thu 19th January 2012 - 3:56 pm

No doubt, both Conservatives and Liberal Democrats, joined by a select band of Blairite survivors, would be rather chipper if the trade union chiefs currently making threatening noises about cutting Labour Party funding  turn out to really mean it.

But the real benefit could be much wider: if Labour loses a large chunk of its funding from trade unions bosses then it could unlock the long-running saga that political party funding reform.

Back in December I wrote:

The strong historical links between trade unions and the Labour Party means that any proposals which would curb the amount unions can give to Labour are

…

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Dave Smithson

Opinion: Party funding plans to be kicked into the long grass – but what’s the alternative?

By Dave Smithson | Sun 27th November 2011 - 9:54 am

Proposals from the Committee on Standards in Public Life for state funding of political parties were kicked into the long grass by all three major players before the report was even officially published.

Reaction from various interested sources and commentators has been almost unanimously opposed to the idea with some, notably the Taxpayers’ Alliance, outraged by the proposals.

The key thrust of most of the arguments against the plan is simply that the time is wrong to burden tax payers with state funding of politic parties at a time when so many budgets are being cut, jobs being lost and deficits being …

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Phil Ling

Opinion: What right do politicians have to decide rules on their own jobs?

By Phil Ling | Thu 24th November 2011 - 2:25 pm

The party funding report by the Committee for Standards in Public Life was barely off the printers and politicians from all parties were saying they were broadly supportive, but more importantly could not back the main suggestion that state funding of political parties be increased.

Party funding will always be tough to square given the reliance of Labour on union money and the Conservatives (and increasingly the Liberal Democrats) on major donors. State funding is inevitable to reduce sleaze, real or inferred, and trust in politics. It only costs  the equivalent of a couple of first class stamps a year, …

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Stephen Tall

Clegg and Farron on party funding: yes to action now, no to more taxpayer contributions

By Stephen Tall | Wed 23rd November 2011 - 6:20 am

Sir Christopher Kelly’s report for Parliament’s Committee on Standards in Public Life was published yesterday, Political Party Finance – Ending the big donor culture: you can read it and the evidence considered by the inquiry here.

Here are the main proposals:

  • A cap of £10,000-a-year on donations from any individual or organisation — including trade unions — to any political party with at least two MPs or two representatives at the Scottish Parliament, the Welsh and Northern Ireland Assemblies. Trade union affiliation fees could be counted as a collection of small individual payments, but only if members are required to

    • …

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    Paul Walter

    Opinion: Nick Clegg lays into Labour links to unions

    By Paul Walter | Wed 16th November 2011 - 6:24 pm

    Here’s a superb clip of Nick Clegg in full, passionate flight as he attacks Sadiq Khan regarding links with the GMB union. There is some background to this story on order-order.com here.

    Here’s the exchange in full from Hansard:

    Sadiq Khan (Tooting) (Lab): The Deputy Prime Minister has previously endorsed the long-held convention that issues of party funding should—as he has just said—be resolved by cross-party agreement when that is possible. He has told us that the Committee on Standards in Public Life will report shortly: in fact, it will report next week. Is he concerned about the objections from

    …

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    Mark Pack

    A quiet revolution in political party finance

    By Mark Pack | Fri 16th September 2011 - 12:25 pm

    As the Financial Times reported earlier this week (expanding on a point Stephen has made previously):

    The party said it had raised more than Labour from individual and corporate donors in five out of the past six quarters. In the second quarter of this year the party attracted £850,000 against £300,000 for Labour, which is now majority financed by money from the big unions.

    As far as I’m aware, this is the first time the Liberal Democrats have been raising more money from non-trade union sources than the Labour Party, which is a major change from the previous well-established and …

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    The Voice

    Lib Dems outperform Labour on private donations, notes the FT

    By The Voice | Mon 6th June 2011 - 5:55 pm

    Good to see a bit of media recognition today which overtly acknowledges our now consistent out-performing of Labour on private fundraising efforts. The Financial Times reports:

    Private and company donations to Labour have plummeted to a 10th of their pre-election average in the first six months of Ed Miliband’s leadership, according to research by the Financial Times.

    Many former donors have turned their backs on the opposition party, leaving it increasingly reliant on unions, which provide the bulk of its private income.

    Labour’s corporate and individual donations of £248,577 for the half-year to March were dwarfed even by those to the Liberal

    …

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    Mark Pack

    A trio of good news on political reform

    By Mark Pack | Tue 28th December 2010 - 9:47 am

    First, fuelled in part by Labour’s debate about how it should be seen relative to the trade unions, we have the news that Ed Miliband may be about to break the logjam on party funding reform:

    Ed Miliband is to distance Labour from its trade union paymasters by diluting the party’s financial dependence on them and reducing their role in electing the party leader.

    Labour has proposed introducing a ceiling on donations to any political party which could be as low as £500, The Independent has learnt.

    The move could break the long-running deadlock between the parties on agreeing a new system of

    …

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    Paul Tyler

    Paul Tyler writes… Party funding: dilemmas and delays

    By Paul Tyler | Wed 10th November 2010 - 10:58 am

    Since so many of us have fought elections against extremely well-funded opposition candidates, Liberal Democrats are naturally and rightly exercised by the matter of campaign finance. Though Labour made some modest progress with its Political Parties, Elections and Referendums (PPERA) Act, back in 2000, the Act’s focus was transparency, rather than regulation.

    When I chaired the party’s policy group on Better Governance in 2007, we set out an objective that no donor should be able to buy influence in the political process, and no party should be able to buy elections. This was the approach we took in the cross-party talks …

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    Stuart Wilks-Heeg

    The Independent View: Party funding: yes, another review really is necessary

    By Stuart Wilks-Heeg | Wed 20th October 2010 - 11:20 am

    The next 12 months will be crucial to the coalition’s promise to reform party funding and ‘take big money out of politics’. An inquiry, to be conducted under the auspices of the Committee on Standards in Public Life, is already underway and will report in spring 2011, to be followed by inter-party talks.

    It could be asked whether we need yet another review. Between 2005 and 2007, three separate reviews highlighted the need for reform, with the inter-party talks which followed the Hayden Phillips review in late 2007 coming close to securing agreement. Some, including Phillips himself, have argued …

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    Posted in Op-eds and The Independent View | Also tagged | 7 Comments
    Sara Bedford

    Daily View 2×2: 5 January 2010

    By Sara Bedford | Tue 5th January 2010 - 12:43 pm

    With the thought that there are only 353 days to Christmas and considerably fewer until the General Election, we launch into today’s Daily View.

    On this day in 1918, the Free Committee for a German Workers Peace, which would become the Nazi party, was founded. In 1941, the aviator Amy Johnson, disappeared over the Thames Estuary and was never found. And 28 years ago today, Peter Sutcliffe, a 35-year-old lorry driver from Bradford appeared in court, charged with 13 murders of women in West Yorkshire.

    Happy birthday to the second most famous son of Abbots Langley, footballer, actor and current Celebrity Big Brother ‘inmate’ Vinnie Jones, who is 45 today and to former US Vice President Walter F. Mondale, who is 82.

    2 Interesting Stories

    With the thought that some of you may have already noticed other parties’ pronouncements in the news yesterday, here are two more slants on the coming election.

     We’re being outgunned by slick Tory machine, says Labour’s Andrew Slaughter

    The Labour MP for Hammersnith believes that his chances of re-election are being hampered by a lack of funding compared to his Conservative opponent. Slaughter said;

    “People should be concerned that money is being poured into seats like this and the consequences of that for democracy,”

    Funny how Labour never saw this as a problem when they were the ones bringing in large donations?

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    Stephen Tall

    Would the Tories kick Lord Belize Ashcroft out of the Upper Chamber?

    By Stephen Tall | Tue 10th February 2009 - 6:40 pm

    Over at the Mirror’s Kevin Maguire & Friends blog, Jason Beattie asks if the Tories are on the point of reversing their U-turn, and supporting a Lib Dem motion obliging anyone who sits in the House of Lords to be a UK resident for tax purposes:

    This may seem like an obscure requirement but it could mean Lord Laidlaw (a Tory) Lord Paul (Labour) and possibly Lord Ashcroft (a Tory who has never come clean about where he pays his taxes) face being kicked out of the Upper House. When this bill was first introduced by the Lib Dem Lord

    …

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    Stephen Tall

    Labour ‘scrap plans to block wealthy donors’ spending in marginal seats’

    By Stephen Tall | Sat 7th February 2009 - 10:33 am

    From today’s Guardian:

    Ministers have abandoned plans to block wealthy Tory donors such as Lord Ashcroft from spending huge sums of money in marginal seats between general elections. … The amendment scraps a planned “trigger” which would have meant that would have meant that, the moment a candidate was adopted, their campaign spending would have been subject to restrictions.

    The Guardian understands ministers have been warned that the rules would be very difficult to police. In its place, the government has set a date – 55 months after the new parliament first sits – when new restrictions, set at £25,000 per

    …

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    Stephen Tall

    Top Lib Dem donor short-selling bank shares

    By Stephen Tall | Wed 28th January 2009 - 9:43 am

    Late last week, there was a small flurry of media interest in hedge fund Lansdowne Partners:

    A hedge fund run by two Tory donors made a £12million killing in days by exploiting the collapse of Barclays shares, it was revealed yesterday. Financiers Paul Ruddock and David Craigen have donated more than £300,000 to the party, most of it since David Cameron became leader. Within hours of the ban on the controversial practice of short-selling being lifted last Friday, their company Lansdowne Partners sold shares in Barclays worth £28.4million. They were bought back on Wednesday, by which time the bank’s value

    …

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    David Howarth

    David Howarth MP writes… How to reform party political funding

    By David Howarth | Thu 11th December 2008 - 5:45 pm

    This country faces a crisis of confidence in democracy just as profound as the crisis of confidence in the financial markets. Both are ultimately about trust – trust in the quality of what is being sold in the one case, trust in what political leaders say, and what their motives are, in the other.

    The series of scandals about party funding – from cash for honours to the Ashcroft affair – damage democracy deeply by sending the constant message that politics is not about values and ideas, but about buying power and access, and if you are not a rich donor …

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    Mark Pack

    Political party borrowing: prepare for a round of misreporting

    By Mark Pack | Wed 26th November 2008 - 2:19 pm

    The latest figures from the Electoral Commission for donations to political parties and borrowing by parties are out today.

    It includes the claim that, “As at 30 September 2008, total borrowing stood at just over £31 million.”

    As is now traditional, the Electoral Commission is in fact misreporting its own figures. As I wrote last time:

    You will find that this is actually the total figure for borrowing plus unused credit facilities. It’s as if I had an unused credit card with a £500 limit that’s never come out of the envelope and never been used, but you said, “Ah ha! You

    …

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    Tim Gordon

    Opinion: State funding of political parties would lead to creeping centralisation

    By Tim Gordon | Fri 8th December 2006 - 2:28 pm

    MoneyRunning local parties must be one of the least lauded jobs in Britain.

    Its hard work. There are (rightly) increasing numbers of checks (especially on the money), some with potential legal implications. Its not as glamorous as being a Councillor, and there is no allowance attached. And if you’re a Tory, there’s a high chance that CCHQ will come down on you if you misbehave and do something terrible like select a popular local candidate.

    I was reminded of this when I attended the London New Local Party Officer training. I was impressed by both the calibre of the trainers – in the case of Treasurers the estimable David Allworthy – and the enthusiasm of the various participants (its still early days!).

    Ultimately getting good local party Execs is critical to both the ability of a party to campaign -but also to the political health of the UK as a whole. They are the ones who sweat to make things happen, who ensure that the right candidates get selected to (ultimately) run the country and whose day-to-day activity keeps the whole democracy show on the road. And these are often the same community-minded people who might also run a local charity or the village fete.

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    Mark Pack

    More Tory trouble on party funding

    By Mark Pack | Thu 30th November 2006 - 10:04 am

    From The Times:

    The Conservative Party was last night under the spotlight over its massive debts to backers with overseas addresses and ‘non-trading’ companies. Several of the firms which lent money to the Tories are operating in tax havens or countries noted for banking secrecy.

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