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Leeds English Democrats Chairman Chris Beverley explains how the proposed radical reforms to the funding of political reforms which have made the headlines could have significant implications for our party. In such tough economic times it is hard to imagine a proposal more likely to enflame public opinion that the suggestion that more taxpayer funding should be provided to political parties. Yet this is exactly what the Kelly Commission committee on standards in public life, chaired by Sir Christopher Kelly, has suggested, albeit with a proposed start date of 2015. A cap of £10,000 on individual donations was also proposed, along with a call for members of trade unions to have to opt in to paying the political levy, which currently operates as a kind of stealth tax on union members who have not actively decided to support the Labour Party but have simply never bothered to opt out of the political levy, often because they have never even become aware of it or given the matter any thought. Clearly these proposals would have a significant impact upon the Labour Party, which relies on this abhorrent exploitation of trade union members for the vast majority of its funding. The Lib-Lab-Con cartel parties have rejected these proposals, focusing on their narrow party interests whilst trying to claim that their opposition is based on a moral objection to more taxpayers' money being used to bankroll political parties. English Democrats Chairman Robin Tilbrook was invited by the Kelly Commission to give oral evidence on this subject as part of its inquiries. In his evidence, Robin explained how the membership of the main political parties has plummeted during the past few decades and that this; "is partly a product of the fact that the main political parties have moved away from engagement with what the public actually wants." Robin argued that the British political system actually encourages this remoteness, and that; "there is not much of a link between public support and financial health of the political party and obviously the more money the party receives from the state the worse that is going to be." He declared that "I do not want to see a situation like we have in Belgium where the establishment parties use the funding system to make life as difficult as possible for the Flemish Nationalists." Robin advanced on the example offered to us of what has happened in Flanders in his follow up submission, which can be viewed in full here. This contains information provided by the Vlaams Belang, Flanders' patriotic secessionist party, and offers a cautionary tale of the way in which a politically correct establishment might choose to use its system of public funding of political parties as a tool with which to effectively outlaw an opposition party. The full transcript of Robin's oral submission to the Kelly Commission can be read on Robin's blog here. You can read more articles by Chris here: www.chrisbeverley.com
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State Funding of Political Parties
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