The Pros And Cons Of Party Funding

Party funding has been a controversial subject. On the one hand limitations to party funding would mean that parties would be constricted and possibly unable to spread campaign messages, but without limitation there is a danger of corruption through the promise of donation for political favours. For example, before the 2010 election, accountancy firms donated money to the conservative party in the hopes that in return they would be able to establish government contracts. Tony Blair was also involved with a scandal which suggested that he had taken a £1 million donation in return of exempting Formula one form the ban on the advertisement of tobacco. Despite there being legislation created by parliament to prevent these activities there has still been incidents of foul play.
Furthermore, in 2011 the committee on standards in life purposed that a cap of £10,000 be introduce after having decided that a 50,000-pound cap would only be beneficial to the conservatives. The report gave 24 recommendations but according to Fisher the recommendations of the report were not supported by either the conservative or labour parties as the cap for the labour party would mean that the small amount super unions that they rely on would be unable to donate as much because of the cap which would mean the party would be unable to accumulate enough money to spread their message. This all highlights that Parliament have been unable to adequately reform party