Teaching Comparative

The costs of modern politics

Campaign expenditures in the UK are tiny compared to those in the US, but spending habits are changing. In the wake of corruption allegations of peerages for loans, the broader issues of party spending, borrowing, and incomes are in the British news. This is a report from The Guardian (UK).

Election spending puts Labour and Tories deep into the red

"Labour and Conservative party finances were today revealed to be in a perilous state following last year's general election, with Labour trebling its debt in just 12 months while the Conservatives saw a sixfold increase.

"But both parties insist their deficits were covered by loans from supporters taken on at commercial rates...

"The decision to take on loans running into millions of pounds to cover the expenditure has sparked furious controversy, and has led to a change in the rules to require loans to be declared to the commission in the same way that large donations are...

"The Labour party chairwoman, Hazel Blears... said that the current controversy about loans risked undermining public confidence in the democratic system.

"'The general feeling that somehow party politics in this country is not a respectable activity is damaging for the whole of democracy,' she said.

"'I think we need to be very robust in saying that party politics are essential to democracy.

"'Politics costs money to run and therefore people should be encouraged to support parties that express their values.'...

"The latest update on political party funding showed Labour and the Conservatives spent similar sums on last year's general election.

"Labour spent almost £15.2m on campaigning in 2005, on top of running costs of £23.8m and other expenses, which brought the party's total expenditure to £49.8m. It had an income of £35.3m over the year, including donations totalling £13.9m and membership subscriptions of just under £3.7m.

"The Conservatives spent around £15.7m campaigning, out of a total expenditure for 2005 of £39.2m. The Tories' income was £24.2m, including £13.6m in donations and membership fees of £843,000.

"Meanwhile, the Liberal Democrats recorded a deficit of £207,052, receiving an income of almost £8.6m and spending around £8.8m, of which some £4.9m went on campaigning..."

posted by Ken Wedding @ 8:59 AM