Is it right to allow donations from wealthy individuals to UK political parties? Should it be made against the law?
Is it right to allow donations from wealthy individuals to UK political parties? Should it be made against the law?
Well, this is the problem, isn’t it?
When you vote for Reform, you know they’re essentially oriented towards business and anti-socialist policies. But how do you vote when the so-called traditional opposition isn’t really an opposition at all, just a party that doesn’t want to upset too many voters by introducing ideas now considered “far right,” even though they used to be seen as “normal”? Even if Reform won the next election, I highly doubt they would secure a large enough majority to seriously harm the NHS. At the very least, they might steer us in a new direction on the immigrant crisis and roll back some of these ridiculous woke policies.
I was just listening to this well-spoken, articulate young woman on the radio going on about the latest Ed Sheeran issue, where he’s been criticized for not speaking up in support of the Palestinian cause. But what about the many UK families struggling every day and the state of the NHS? In my opinion, middle-class people like her live in a bubble and jump on the woke bandwagon as a form of virtue signaling.
Yes, I'd like to know what they are too?
The first past the post system creates a two party system and makes it harder for smaller parties to make any headway, as does the adversarial nature of our politics, we need politicians to work together more for us the people who elected them and the country as a whole, rather than indulging in petty squabbles and punishing "the other side" and thse who voted for them.
think foreign donations to the Reform Party may not be a bad thing
That would be disastrous for our democracy. Think how many politicians (not uniquely Reform politicians) have been accused of cosying up to Russia and what that would mean if their donations payed for time to be given in parliament to their interests, or to those of any other country.
How on earth could it be ok to allow a foreign country to play a part in governing the UK?
We are living in different times now and financial transactions can be opaque. I would much rather see a limit put on donations so that politicians would work for the interests of their constituents, not their donors. It’s also necessary to stop parties with the most money from dominating the debate, so that each party can compete mainly on the strength of their argument.
This resulted in a large majority, which led to more extreme socialist and woke policies that many voters didn’t anticipate.
Please let us know what these 'extreme' and 'woke' policies are.
In this context, I think foreign donations to the Reform Party may not be a bad thing, as the two main parties have had such a stranglehold on power for many years that it’s been very difficult, if not impossible, for other parties to break through. Over the past couple of years, people grew fed up with the Tories, and many turned to the Labour Party hoping for real change. This resulted in a large majority, which led to more extreme socialist and woke policies that many voters didn’t anticipate. It felt more like the Tories lost the last election rather than Labour winning it.
The two-party system has lasted so long that people seem unable to change their voting habits, as voting for a smaller party is often seen as a wasted vote. I think a lot of people now feel politically “homeless,” unable to find a viable party they believe could realistically gain power. Naturally, the two main parties have enjoyed a cosy relationship for decades, where one eventually gets voted out and the other steps in, knowing its turn will likely come. They dislike the idea of this arrangement being threatened by new parties, which explains the strong negative reaction to the latest donation.
If these people want to 'give,'such huge amounts of money , why don't they give to something really benefitical to others - reducing world poverty, or reducing local effects of climate change in countries where they are not abusing the planet, or research projects aimed at understanding and reducing crime, or improving water quality and providing clean water worldwide. I'd love to know their agenda, if it's not overtly wanting to benefit personally. I wish a BBC reporter would pose these questions to them.
I'd be happy to see a limit on election spending, or all donations go into a pot and get divided out, although how that would effect small and new parties I'm not sure?
What is Fractal Reserve Banking?
Yes, an MP is her only job. In other words, she's a career politician.
The problem is Fractal Reserve Banking, creating boom-and-bust cycles.
Don't hate the player, hate the game!
Ms Rayner was very vocal yesterday, too be honest donations of that amount should be banned. She stated last year that being an MP should be your only job, This is donations she has received this year, two are from property companies and she is the Housing Minister. It’s not only her, they are all still receiving money.
No it's not it's buying votes, but nothing will ever change because every party benefits from funding from large donors. and none of them are going to bite the hands that feed. And donors are going to keep getting rewarded for doing so see for example Andy Burnham accepting a donation from Lord Sainsbury and a few months later announcing a policy where a huge chunk of unemployed youths are going to work for free in Sainsbury's stores, and that's not even the worst example of political corruption compared to the things the last tory government did.
We need massive reforms and actual enforcement of the rules that are already in place that would make behaviour like this cease to exist.
Well, then stop Corporations donating to Political Parties; to create a level playing-field.
In the midst of the hyperbole over the money Farage got, lest we forget the amount of spondulicks the main parties receive from Microsoft, Pfizer, etc.
Even Union donations should be banned. They seek to buy elections, too.
Yes, they should and they are, Reform are skating on very thin ice accepting their two multimillion pound donations.
I also think that there should be a much lower limit on the amount of money an individual can donate and that there should be a cap on election spending.
But one thing thats interesting is all the money seems to be going to social media campaigns, I don't have social media apart from here and I see much less advertising. We get about a third of the amount of bumf through the door as we did even 5 years ago.
It has to be against the law, otherwise democracy will disappear into a feud between the world's rich [if there is a world left, thanks to bad political decisions].
