Party funding is not the real problem

Yes, there is a problem of how we fund politics—but the far bigger problem is how we do politics.

To keep things in perspective, consider what happens in the United States. There money has the power to distort elections. Candidates face no limits on what they can spend—and no curbs on how much television airtime they can buy.

Twenty years ago in Chicago, at a conference comparing systems of political finance, I described how we did things in Britain. American participants divided between those who thought our ban on political ads on TV an outrageous assault on free speech – and those who wished fervently that they could copy our system in order to limit the power of rich people, lobbies and corporations. Yesterday’s report from our Electoral Commission, showing how Britain’s parties had raise £20m in the final quarter of last year, would be regarded in Washington as chicken feed.

So: let’s not get too het up about those individuals, trade unions and companies who give money hoping for influence or a peerage. To be sure, we would be better off without such behaviour—just as we would be better off without drunken football fans, theatre-goers who fail to switch their mobile phones to silent, and cyclists who ignore red traffic lights. Getting rid of them might appear on a long list of social ills to put right—but, when we are forced to set priorities, would these make our shortlist of most urgent challenges? Likewise, improving the way we fund politics would improve our national life but, if we are honest, only a bit.

Voters are not keen on the most obvious way to reform the way we pay for politics—state funding. Recently, YouGov found that most voters like neither the present system nor the clear alternative. As many as 74 per cent think “the current system of party funding probably does encourage corruption”, but only 19per cent would support parties being funded by the taxpayer rather than donations.

We then forced people to choose between the two. Almost two-thirds, 63 per cent wanted to keep “the current system of party funding, with Labour reliant on large Trade Union donations and the Conservatives reliant on large business donations”. Just 37 per cent preferred “political parties receiving funding from the taxpayer instead of donations from donors”.

The reason is surely obvious. Politicians are a discredited breed. And they do nothing to help their collective reputation by the way they attack their opponents—the Tories' recent run of anti-Miliband YouTube adverts, for example, have provoked criticism from the party's own Employment Minister, Esther McVey. If they fail to respect each other, why should we respect them? The tricky issue of persuading voters to accept state funding could be tackled if MPs were more courteous and generally better behaved. Indeed, this would improve our political culture in all sorts of ways.

What are the chances of this happening any time soon? Your guess is as good as mine—and probably as bleak.