Online Questions & Answers with Hayden Phillips on party funding

What oversight will be necessary for state funded parties?

Posted by rossjamesparker on October 30th 2006

Where public money is allocated, there ought to be oversight. This is especially true for party funding - otherwise we're just handing tax-payer's money to advertising companies. Would you propose parliamentary (PAC) scrutiny of party spending? How could this be kept free of political partiality?

This question is now closed.

You make a very good point.

Posted by Sir Hayden Phillips on 30/10/2006 - 14:03

You make a very good point. There clearly is a need for very thorough oversight. I am not sure that this should be a matter for the Public Accounts Committee as under present and likely future arrangements, this is the job of the Electoral Commission. My task, and also that of the Committee on Standards in Public Life is to ensure that the Electoral Commission have the right people with the right skills to do the job. The Electoral Commission is an independent body created by Parliament and, while there is an issue as to whether the Commission should include some very senior politicians, the general view is that it should always have a majority of clearly independent members.

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