Funding UK Political Parties: A Democratic Dilemma
| DOI | 10.1111/j.2041-9066.2011.00055.x |
| Published date | 01 April 2011 |
| Date | 01 April 2011 |
| Author | Stuart Wilks-Heeg |
| Subject Matter | Feature |
because they provide the link be-
tween free civil society and effective,
accountable government.
In order to undertake these func-
tions successfully, it is clear that polit-
ical parties need money: they cannot
be sustained by party membership
fees and volunteer activists alone. In
a modern democracy parties need fi-
nancial resources to develop policies,
engage with the media and run elec-
tion campaigns. But, just how much
money do the parties need? Where
should they get it from? And does
having more money confer unfair
political advantage? Having started
with academic consensus, we quick-
ly uncover a particularly nasty can of
worms; issues of money and politics
are among the most controversial in
political science.
Funding UK Political Parties:
A Democratic Dilemma
Political scientists generally
believe that if political parties
did not exist, we would have
to invent them. Among academics,
the core functions of political parties
in a democracy are well defined. Po-
litical parties aggregate and weigh
up competing demands from civil
society to formulate policy propos-
als and programmes, and compete
at elections to secure a mandate
from the electorate to implement
their respective programmes. This
inter-party competition at elections
also offers the best guarantee that
effective (single-party or coalition)
governments can be formed and
held to account by a capable op-
position.
In short, political parties are es-
sential to representative democracy
Reform of party funding is back on the agenda, but what are the prospects for change when most past attempts
at reform have ended in failure? Stuart Wilks-Heeg considers the options and asks who should pay for these
democratically essential, but often unpopular, organisations.
UK party
politics takes
place on a
notoriously
uneven
playing eld
These are not just academic ques-
tions. Public and political concern
about the issue is also highly ap-
parent. In May 2010, the UK’s new
coalition government promised to
reform party funding ‘to remove big
money from politics’. The Commit-
tee on Standards in Public Life has
since commenced an inquiry into the
issues, to be followed by inter-party
talks to agree reforms in mid-2011.
Seasoned political observers say they
will believe reform when they see it,
but there can be no doubt that pres-
sure for change is mounting.
Money and Politics: Key
Concerns
UK party politics takes place on a no-
toriously uneven playing field. Cur-
rent party funding arrangements,
operating in concert with first-past-
the-post elections, help sustain the
dominance of the two main parties.
As Figure 1 shows, the income of
both the Conservatives (£163 mil-
lion) and Labour (£154 million)
from 2005 to 2009 exceeded that of
the Liberal Democrats (£32 million)
by a factor of five. Smaller parties,
such as the Greens, must suffice
with around 1/60th of the resources
available to either of the two main
parties.
Much of this resource inequality
arises from the relative ability of the
parties to attract large donations. For
decades, institutional donations were
crucial to sustaining both Labour
(via the trade unions) and the Con-
servatives (through corporations).
However, since the early 1990s, large
donations from individuals have also
Press Association Images
Controversial Tory donor Lord Ashcroft has given millions to the Conservative party
22 Political Insight
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