Regulation of UK Political Parties
Parliament to Tighten Controls on British Politics Finance
Britain's Justice Minister, Jack Straw M.P. has announced that the Government intends to reform the way in which political parties and individual candidates obtain and spend funds.
The new reforms have been, at least partly, bought about by the "peerages for cash" scandal, where it was alleged that party donations to the governing Labour Party were being accepted in exchange for seats in the House of Lords. This scandal led to the Prime Minister Tony Blair being questioned by the Metropolitan Police, the first time this had happened to an incumbent Prime Minister.
This was followed by a case of "dodgy donations" during the contest for the deputy leadership of the Labour Party, where one donor paid money to the campaign of the eventual winner through an intermediary in order to disguise where the donations had come from. Further investigation revealed that the practice had occurred over a number of years.
The new measures announced by Jack Straw reflect a long history of regulation prompted by corruption and scandal.
The social changes of the 18th Century created a very different society in terms of how society was configured. Rural communities declined as cities grew in response to the Industrial Revolution. Yet elections to Parliament were based on the rural way of life leading to what were called "rotten boroughs",a term first used in early 19th century by Parliamentary reformers (source:Ministry of Justice). These were constituencies that had very few voters and were often in the control of wealthy landowners who bribed or bullied their way in to the House of Commons.
The first significant legislation was the Representation of the People Act 1832; this law increased the number of people entitled to vote from 50% to 80% of the male population. Yet corruption was still rife and public concern led to a number of reforms in the late 19th Century including the Corrupt and Illegal Practices Prevention Act 1883, a law that marked the first serious attempt to create rules on election expenditure.
Whilst subsequent laws have been enacted the system remained largely unchanged until 2000 when a new act was passed, creating the Electoral Commission to oversee political funding and expenditure as well as setting limits on what political parties could spend during elections.
The new proposals build on that Political Parties, Elections and Referendums Act 2000 by enhancing the powers of the Electoral Commission so that it is better equipped to regulate party spending and political donations - both giving it greater powers and reforming its governance so that it can benefit from Commissioners with recent experience of politics. Also, by increasing the transparency of donations to ensure that the ultimate source is revealed, including by closer regulation of unincorporated associations.
In announcing these latest reforms the Minister said, "Political parties are integral to our democratic system. So when political parties are brought into disrepute, the reputation of the entire political process is tarnished."
"The Government is determined to help build higher standards of public confidence in our politics and believes that long term, fundamental reform of party finance is necessary. I hope we can move towards this with the support of all political parties and build a deep and enduring cross party consensus."
The new legislation is expected to be bought to Parliament in the very near future.
Source: Ministry of Justice
