The state funding of parties

?
  • Created by: Milbob1
  • Created on: 22-10-18 16:01

The state funding of parties

Advantages

  • Parties play an important role in representative democracy, so deserve public funding
  • Public funding would remove the great disparity in resources available to different-sized parties
  • If the state matched donations by party members, it might encourage participation by the public and recruitment to parties
  • It would curb the possibly corrupt influence of private backers on party policy e.g. Blair's delay in implementing a ban on tobacco advertising in Formula One racing 1997, after a £1 million donation to Labour from motor-racing boss Bernie Ecclestone

Disadvantages

  • Increased state funding could lead to calls for greater state regulation, possible reducing parties' independence
  • It is hard to decide how much support a party should have to qualify for funding
  • Public funding could isolate parties from the wishes of voters
  • Taxpayers would resent compulsory contributions to parties of which they disapprove

Evaluation

State funding could be a good idea, but the system at the moment works fine, and an additional burden on the taxpayer in a time of relative economic uncertainty would be unwise for a controversial implementation like this.

Comments

No comments have yet been made