George Monbiot21h ago
Why should any political donations other than a standard annual party membership fee (say £25) be permitted? All other options allow wealthy people disproportionate political influence.
Show threadDan Hatton

@georgemonbiot.bsky.social

I sympathise with the sentiment, but: this would give a largeish party of 100000 members a budget of £2.5 million per year. Let's say in a typical year there are public elections of some variety in areas containing 10 million households. I think a political party can reasonably expect to be allowed to deliver an election-address leaflet to every household. That gives them 25p per leaflet to get them printed. I'm not convinced that's feasible.

Mar 25 at 4:02pmWeb
Show threadGeorge Monbiot21h ago
The state matches the fees on a fixed multiple. Adequate funding on a level playing field.
Show threadDan Hatton20h ago

@georgemonbiot.bsky.social

Yep, that sounds like a decent plan.

Now what to we do about donations in kind via big media proprietors publishing partisan editorial content for free?

Show threadReg20h ago

@only_ohm

That's a more difficult problem to fix, but conveniently many of our media moguls are tax exiles so there might be options to explore.

@georgemonbiot.bsky.social

Show threadReg20h ago

@only_ohm

Central funding for political parties would be the alternative, altho this model is criticised as a waste of taxpayer's money by those parties and politicians that benefit disproportionately from private donations.

@georgemonbiot.bsky.social

Show threadIsabel Ruffell20h ago

@only_ohm @georgemonbiot.bsky.social

One issue is that membership fees can vary and that can be distorting too. Better to set a combined cap for individual contributions. The govt could fund a FREEPOST printing of a set size, as well as delivery which it currently provides. .

A lot of the money, though, goes on online ads; there is a huge regulatory hole in that space generally.