Big Money Politics

Here's a comment from the BCC's web site - on political party funding in the UK.

Sir Christopher Kelly and his Committee on Standards in Public Life are spot on - the only way to clean up the system is to take big money out of party politics.

I heard the former General Secretary of the Labour party - Peter Watt - express the same sentiment on the radio earlier today.

We shall see if the main parties up to the challenge - but the latest row over 'cash for access' presents a real opportunity to end a system - that is inherently corrupting and wide open to abuse. 

Party Funding 

During a review of party funding by the independent Committee on Standards in Public Life last year, the Conservatives suggested an annual cap of £50,000.

This was dismissed by the committee as it amounted to twice the average salary and over a five-year Parliament added up to £250,000.

Instead, a cap of £10,000 was recommended by the committee, with an extra £23m of taxpayers' money to reduce reliance on "big money" donations.

Committee chairman Sir Christopher Kelly said on Sunday:

"The only way to remove the suspicion surrounding very large donations would be to ban very large donations.

That requires all the parties to address something very hard. For the Conservatives it means giving up their advantage of having more wealthy supporters. For Labour, the relationship with the trade unions."