George Monbiot1d 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 Hatton1d ago

@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.

Show threadIsabel Ruffell

@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.

Mar 25 at 5:02pmWeb
Show threadTim Ward ⭐🇪🇺🔶 #FBPE4h ago
@iaruffell @only_ohm @georgemonbiot.bsky.social The FREEPOST is not available for most elections, only for general elections.