Germany set to cut state funds to extreme parties

German lawmakers voted to end public financing for extremist political parties in a measure aimed at the far-right NPD (National Democratic Party) which the Berlin parliament has twice tried, and failed, to ban.

Every party wins some state funding, partly based on its success at the ballot box. The NPD received €1.3million (£1.1million) from public coffers in 2015. Now, the lower house of parliament has voted, by 502 to 57, to end funding for “parties hostile to the constitution”.