How About Parties Spending Less?
The row about loans to the Labour party has given new life to the debate about public funding for political parties in the UK. We have also learnt (these figures need to be published by law) that Labour spent nearly 18 million GBP at the last election in 2005.
I have sympathy with the case for some public funding for parties as they do perform an essential democratic function and I would like to see them able to operate without selling their souls (or nominations to a seat for life in one chamber of the legislature). But if there is to be a move in this direction it should be tied to a much tighter cap on campaign spending.
If the cap remains high then we will see public money diverted into the coffers of publicity companies like those who control outdoor poster sites for very little democratic benefit. I would not be a happy taxpayer to have my earning subsidise this sort of campaigning. Better to have funding for core staff activities, have a limit of, say, 5 million campaign spending, and encourage parties to use people to meet with and talk to voters and not blow the funds on advertising.
The law is already in place to set funding caps for all political campaigning at local and national level so there are no legislative barriers to doing this. If the controls are set so that parties spend less but more effectively on human contact then this this might get my vote for state funding.
Richard, you are a great loss to Parliament where you were one of the few Lib Dems who I had a great deal of time and respect for. I wholeheartedly agree with your analysis and proposal for a national spending cap (although we perhaps need a debate on the exact amount as I feel five million GBP is perhaps just a bit low).