Online Questions & Answers with Hayden Phillips on party funding

Is a free competitive market in party funding impossible?

Posted by Martin Le Jeune on October 30th 2006

As I read the Interim Report, your review is already tending to accept the truth of the following propositions:

1.political parties are essential to democracy
2.the current system is failing to provide them with sufficient money in the right way
3.therefore the case for more state support than they currently receive is strong
However the decline in funding and the decline in active participation in party politics via membership and donation is very clear. Surely further state support will weaken the incentive for the parties to raise funds from voters, accelerating the separation of the two? Let us not have a cure which deals with superficial symptoms but worsens the underlying disease!

This question is now closed.

I certainly accept the first

Posted by Sir Hayden Phillips on 30/10/2006 - 15:04

I certainly accept the first of the three points you record. On the other two I am being asked to make a judgement in the light of the arguments and evidence put to me. There is certainly a risk that the more public funding parties receive the less they may be inclined to make contact with and raise money from voters. What I am clear about is that there are a number of complex factors at work here and any overall package of changes needs to cover a range of issues in relation to funding and not simply the question of public funds alone.