‘Protect elections from dirty money’

POLITICIANS HAVE called for new rules to protect elections and referendums in the UK from the influence of “dirty money and dodgy data misuse”.

A report by the All-Party Parliamentary Group for Electoral Campaigning Transparency states that British elections are “wide open to abuse”.

Electoral law has not been properly updated since 2001, when the internet had less influence than today, the group said. The study calls for the setting up of an Office for Election Integrity aimed at “stopping rule-breakers slipping through the regulatory gaps”, and abolishing the cap on fines for breaching electoral law.

Moves need to be made to “close foreign donor loopholes”, MPs say by ensuring all donations have to be UK-based. And the group wants to give the Electoral Commission the ability to launch prosecutions.

“The outdated nature of UK election law has pitched us into a battle for the very soul of our democracy,” said the chairman of the group, Stephen Kinnock.

The Labour MP added: “Facebook and other digital giants now play a hugely significant role in our elections and referendums, but most of the current legislation was created before the phrase ‘social media’ even existed.

“It was in 2018 that the cracks in our democratic processes really started to show, when former chief executive of the Electoral Commission, Claire Bassett, told the Digital, Culture, Media and Sport select committee the current maximum per-offence fine of £20,000 was – for political actors – no more than ‘a cost of doing business’.

“Now, nearly four years on from the EU referendum, absolutely nothing has been done to protect our system from dodgy money and dirty data. That’s why our new report is so important.”