Fifth Report of the Committee on Standards in Public Life
The Funding of Political Parties in the United Kingdom (Cm 4057, October 1998)
Abstract
Presenting the Committee’s Report on party funding to the Prime Minister, Lord Neill said: ‘Many members of the public believe that the policies of the major political parties have been influenced by large donors, while ignorance about the sources of funding has fostered suspicion. We are, therefore, convinced that a fundamentally new framework is needed to provide public confidence for the future, to meet the needs of modern politics and to bring the United Kingdom into line with best practice in other mature democracies.’
Proposals for reform of party funding include:
- Full public disclosure of donations (in cash or in kind) to political parties of 5,000 or more nationally (1,000 or more locally)
- An end to blind trusts
- No more foreign donations
- Anonymous donations to political parties of 50 or more banned
- A 20 million national campaign expenditure limit in a general election
- Auditing and accounting rules for political parties
- No new state funding, but tax relief on donations up to 500
- Scrutiny by an Honours Scrutiny Committee where there might be a connection between the honour and a political donation
- Increased funding for opposition parties in Parliament
- Controls on organisations and individuals (other than a political party) spending more than 25,000 nationally on political activity during a general election
- Continued free access to television and radio for party broadcasts
- Maintain the ban on political advertising on television and radio
- Shareholder consent for company donations
- A proper voice for both sides of the argument in a referendum
To ensure compliance, oversight by an independent and authoritative Election Commission with wide executive and investigative powers.
The proposals as a whole aim to encourage:
- More openness about the sources and use of party funds
- Greater public confidence that individuals and organisations are not buying influence with political parties
- Individual parties to seek out many more small- to medium-sized donations to their funds.
Hearings into the enquiry into the Fifth Report on the funding of political parties in the United Kingdom took place in London on two days a week between 15 April and 14 May 1998 and on 15 June 1998, in Cardiff on 20 and 21 May 1998, in Edinburgh on 3 and 4 June 1998 and in Belfast on 17 and 18 June 1998.
In summary: the Committee saw 74 individual or groups of witnesses over 17 days (9 weeks) in England (46, over 11 days in London), Wales (9 over 2 days in Cardiff), Scotland (10 over 2 days in Edinburgh) and Northern Ireland (9 over 2 days in Belfast); an extra hearing was held in London to give the Committee an opportunity to discuss with the three main parties and Plaid Cymru, points raised during the hearings; and to hear from the Green Party for England and Wales.
As well as the political parties the Committee heard from a variety of witnesses giving their particular views on the funding of political parties including representatives from referendum campaign groups; senior correspondents and broadcasters; and academics.
Documents:
- The First Seven Reports – A Review of Progress where you will find the recommendations made in the Report by the Committee; the formal response made at the time of the Report’s publication by the Government of the day; and the action taken as at September 2001.
