Dear John,
Last week, for the first time in a long while, the Government finally laid out a plan to combat dark money in politics.
The new elections strategy includes several measures aimed at protecting our democracy from undisclosed funding – almost all of which have been consistently recommended by Open Britain and Fair Vote UK over the past four years. These include:
Introducing anti-money-laundering safeguards – the “Know Your Donor” rules – at the point of donation;
Closing loopholes that allow unincorporated associations (UAs) and shell companies to act as vehicles for dark money;
Empowering the Electoral Commission with stronger enforcement tools, including increased fining powers;
Strengthening the digital imprints regime so campaigners must clearly disclose who they are and what they’re advocating, both online and in print.
As dry as these reforms might sound, they’re vital. For many of us working in the democracy sector, these changes fall under the “why on Earth didn’t we do this ten years ago?” category. Still, better late than never.
But other concerns remain. These proposals likely don’t pass the “Musk test.” According to recent estimates, a foreign billionaire like Elon Musk could still donate up to £54 million – legally – to any UK political party (and we can all guess which one).
This raises a fundamental question: should billionaires and corporations be able to buy political influence, simply because they (as in Musk’s case) do some of their business here? Should our democracy still be up for sale?
The cross-party group of MPs in the APPG for Fair Elections – which we are proud to support in Parliament – believes that closing dark money loopholes is essential, but not enough.
The arms race of political donations is intensifying, with record sums being raised every election and from fewer and fewer powerful donors. To truly shift power away from oligarchs and back to ordinary voters, there is a simple, elegant answer: a cap on total donations.
As APPG member Manuela Perteghella MP put it in Parliament earlier this year: “Let us give back control of British politics to our constituents, not to unaccountable tech billionaires or those who seek to buy influence. Let us renew our commitment to an open and fair democracy.”
This country hasn’t had a proper electoral reform package since the year 2000. It’s imperative that we get it right. The government’s reforms are welcome, but we can no longer neglect the reality of the billionaire arms race subverting our politics – or, for that matter, the broken FPTP system underpinning it all.
