Publication

This paper describes how funding political parties in the UK has been a source of controversy for many years. The paper reviews the existing legal framework and introduces the available sources of funding such as public funding, donations and loans. Subsequently, the paper comments on reviews of party funding by the electoral commission, the constitutional affairs committee and Sir Hayden Phillips. The authors detail that the Political Parties, Elections and Referendums Act 2000 introduced national regulation, yet that by March 2006 it nevertheless became clear that further regulation of loans to parties was also necessary.