Do donations to political parties distort democracy ?

[olddutch]

Watching channel 4s Dispatches last night, it was highlighted how the vastly unequal levels of donations to political parties could skew the election result.

Donations to political parties during the 2010 general election (first 2 weeks of Election)

Conservative £ 3,677,153
Labour £ 2,273,159
Lib Dem £140, 000


Donations received by political parties in 2009

Conservative Party £32,513,942
Labour Party £16,220,695
Liberal Democrats £6,212,809

Funding Money can have a powerful effect on the outcome of general elections, particularly in marginal constituencies. Big Business appears to be giving the Conservatives an unfair advantage and the Trade Unions to a lesser extent to Labour

In the interests of fairness and truer democracy should donations be capped or equalised ?

Do donations to political parties under the existing rules distort democracy ?

Do Donations To Political Parties Distort Democracy ?

This poll is closed.

Do You Believe Political Donations Distort Democracy?

• Yes - 11 votes
• 85%
• No - 2 votes
• 15%

See final stats

Stats until: 13:24 Sat 21st Dec 2024 (Refreshed every 5 minutes)

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[modeller]

Donations do distort Democracy but that's not the only distortion,so do many other activities.
Some organisations expect you to support a particular party.
Some parties use thousands of activists whilst others may use only half a dozen. Many communities, and clerics of all denominations apply pressure.
There is also peer and family pressure. I've no doubt you know of many other factors including the media which distort Democracy.
On the news today is a report of yet again widespread postal vote fraud, another
example of Democratic distortion.
We might be able to limit some donations but not these other activities it wouldn't be democratic.

[olddutch]

good points modeller

I keep thinking of the honourable member Stephen Byers and his "cab for hire" comment - and I look at the stats above and have to wonder (but not too much) which are the biggest party cabs for hire ?