State funded political parties?

Labour could be severely financially damaged by a proposed cap of £50,000 on donations to political parties, the Guardian reported yesterday.

Polly Curtis reports that "An analysis of five and a half years' worth of donations to the parties reveals the move would most dramatically affect Labour's funding base. If the £50,000 limit had been in place over the period, Labour's donations would have been reduced by 72%, the Conservatives' by 37% and the Liberal Democrats' by 25%."

The Guardian doesn't reference smaller parties but one would expect the figure to be somewhere below a reduction of 10%.

Polly Curtis writes: "Some committee members [Committee on Standards in Public Life] are arguing for more public funding for political parties, but most believe this is not achievable in the current economic climate. The debate now appears to rest on whether union money should be treated as single large donations or as multiple small donations from individual members' affiliation fees, and whether those affiliation fees should automatically go to Labour."

I view this cap as the AV proposal of political party funding. It doesn't go far enough and is rendered meaningless as a result. There are many ways parties could get round these proposed rules. The most obvious would be paying in instalments instead of bulk donations. If someone wanted to donate £500,000 for example, what would stop them setting up a direct debit of 10 instalments of £50,000? Or is the cap a complete ban on an individual or organisation donating any more money at all after £50,000?

To fight inequality with more inequality is a waste of time. The Green Party propose state funding of political parties and that is where I sit in the debate. Unfortunately now is not the time to play this card as it would be extremely unpopular and difficult to implement due to so many public sector cuts by the Tory-led government. But it's an idea for the future when things return to normal. It would lead to cleaner politics in my view and a reduction in the financial power of donors who lobby for their own interests.