The review of funding political parties

Questions for discussion

To let us know your views, please email us. Please note that the Review team cannot guarantee that we will acknowledge receipt and is not able to enter into correspondence, however your views will be taken into account.

Thank you for sharing your views on party funding with us through your letters, emails and our online response form. Thanks also to those who participated in our online forum and online Q&A webchat.

The following questions relate to each scenario found in the interim assessment for your information.

Four scenarios or packages of measures are presented in the interim assessment. They are not intended as discrete options from which a choice must be made but as ways of illustrating the nature of the choices and the arguments involved. They are presented in terms of increasing degrees of change over the present arrangements.

Each of the scenarios has drawbacks or risks as well as advantages. Some hard choices have to be made.

Scenario 1

  • Do you think the current system (with a few minor changes) needs further time to bed in before thinking of more radical change?

Scenario 2

  • Do you favour the specific ideas described in scenario 2 for increasing transparency?
  • What do you think of the idea of decreasing the amount parties can spend nationally on campaigning?
  • Do you think the amount that can be spent on local campaigning should be increased?

Scenario 3

  • What do you think of the proposal that donations should be capped?

Scenario 4

  • Do you support the principle that additional public funds should go to political parties?
  • If so, do you support the idea of a general cash subsidy or a more targeted grant or the idea of financial incentives to encourage small donations?

General

  • Which elements of the above scenarios do you think are most important?
  • Are there any issues which you think are important that we have not covered?

 

The response form is now closed. Thank you to all those who submitted their answers to our questions.

Party Funding Webchat

Members of the public were invited to ask Sir Hayden Phillips their questions on our interim assessment on 30 October 2006. The webchat is now closed but you can view the archived Questions & Answers here.

Party Funding Forum

The Review hosted an online forum for about 11 weeks before and during the party conference season from 25 July to 6 October 2006. The forum is now closed but you can view the archived discussion here.

Page last updated: 19 December 2006