Urgent need to reform rules on election spending

✒ THE subject of the Government and the power and execution of government and the executive are a strong current topic of debate and argument across the governing party, the civil service and opposition parties.

Modernisation is the buzz word, it even infects the House of Lords.

Just now the august body known as the Institute For Government had two former Prime Ministers and a high ranking retired civil servant sit down and publicly argue the re-structuring of effective government; of prime ministerial power and the changing roles of civil servants and the hierarchy of various ministries in the post modern age of AI and instantaneous communication and the odious issues around faked news.

And just what was it that the two former opposing Prime Ministers agreed about? It was the urgent need for modern change and the destination of any change – the restructuring of the civil service and the process of government business.

As to be expected, even from these two octogenarians, they were of the same mind about the destination point... the objective.

But there were distinct differences in the method of getting to that agreed objective – namely modernisation. Time and time again matters revolved around the economy, and the power of the Prime Minister, and the suggestion of the need for more power, and about the Treasury and the Houses of Parliament.

All that is for after the big event, the general election. That proud, yet quite frightening, democratic event when for one day every four years we, the people, have “people power” and it frightens politicians.

They do not have control over what we will collectively do. So first they will plan their election campaign to spend what they have available, subject to the maximums decided by parliament ie the party in Government. So spending power becomes critical in the fight for seats. Put crudely, the bigger and wider their shout the more it will be heard by us, the voters. At present, it’s as one-sided as might possibly be permitted in a supposed egalitarian society. Firstly, the governing party of the day can choose the date for the Grand Event, so will carefully stagemanage their own performance. The ruling party also gets to determine the spending limits for all candidates. Now that sounds fair, until you find only the richest party can afford to spend up to the maximum.

And the Conservative Party is by far the richest because of its very rich supporters – both individuals and corporations.

The present Conservative government will spend every last penny of the allowed limit. The Greens will probably spend 1/40th of what the Conservatives and the Lib Dems spend, maybe a tenth. Labour, with quite a big party membership, will hope to get £10 million. Money spent on political advertising will play a huge part in our “democratic decision” on which party to vote for.

The Conservatives will choose the date – that advantage exists because we do not have a predetermined date for our general election. Why not?

Elections should be state funded, with so much for each candidate standing – selected by a bona fide political party.

The opposition parties have just one distinct advantage in 2024... they do not carry the dreadfully inept, corrupt, bumbling performance of the present Conservative Party.

If I might mis-paraphrase British Prime Minister Harold Macmillan’s famous speech in 1957… ‘They have never had it so bad.’

Don Frampton Newton Abbot