Strict new laws on campaign spending and donations are needed to tackle the political "arms race", ministers have been warned. Former Labour chair Dame Anneliese Dodds has called for an end to the "giant, unaccountable ratchet" with a limit on campaign spending as a separate report calls for donation caps and an end to second jobs.
MPs Demand Donor Caps and Ban on Second Jobs
This week MPs will call for caps for donors, a ban on members' second jobs and laws to stop companies that give cash to governing parties from being awarded government contracts. It comes as a new report warns more than eight in 10 voters believe wealthy individuals are using donations to advance their own interests.
Writing for The Mirror, Dame Anneliese Dodds warned current rules allow for a "giant, unaccountable ratchet" as cross-party MPs backed her proposals for a shake-up. She said: "The time to act is now. Trust in politics and public institutions has plummeted. Crypto interests in the US have been spending massive amounts of real dollars trying to influence both elections and primaries - and they've had great success."
Dame Anneliese added: "Monied interests can and will hold increasing sway unless politicians come together in the public interest to block this." She has put forward an amendment to the government's Representation of the People Bill demanding the cap on national campaign spending is slashed by £10 million from just over £34 million.
Political Fundraising Has Become an Arms Race
Dame Anneliese went on: "Political fundraising has now become an arms race." On Monday, a separate report by the Autonomy Institute, seen by The Mirror, calls for a £20,000 cap on political donations in a bid to "clean up politics".
The institute's chief executive, Dr Will Stronge, said: "A cap on political donations is one of the few reforms in politics that costs nothing and commands this much public support. People across the political spectrum already believe that money buys access in Westminster, and the polling bears that out. Setting a £20,000 limit, alongside an end to the giver and taker system and a ban on second jobs, would draw a clear line under a decade in which politics has been quietly captured by a small number of very wealthy donors."
Labour backbencher Neil Duncan-Jordan, who wrote the foreword to the report, told The Mirror: "'He who has the gold makes the rules' is not just an old saying but a description of political reality. Year after year, people go out and vote for politicians to represent them, yet their household incomes shrink while the super-rich carry on getting richer. A cap on donations would take one of the wealthy's most powerful weapons out of their arsenal, and it would cost the Treasury nothing."
Reform UK Received £5.4 Million in Large Donations
Latest figures show Reform UK received over £5.4 million in large donations in the last quarter of last year. This includes £3 million from crypto tycoon Christopher Harborne, who also gave Nigel Farage a 'gift' of £5 million before the general election. The Tories received £2.4 million in the same period, while Labour was given £1.9 million by donors.
Dame Anneliese has put forward an amendment to the Representation of the People Bill calling for the spending cap. The bill, to be put in front of MPs this week, tightens rules around political donations - reducing the risk of foreign donations influencing British politics. It also gives the Electoral Commission greater powers to enforce donation rules.
Thirty MPs have put their names to an amendment calling for a £100,000 cap on donations put forward by backbencher Stella Creasey. Former Lib Dem leader Tim Farron and ex-shadow Chancellor John McDonnell are among those backing it. Meanwhile Mr Duncan-Jordan has put forward his own amendment calling for restrictions on public contracts for political donors. Signatories include Mr McDonnell, Labour's Ian Byrne and Your Party's Zarah Sultana.
