The Wardman Wire

Just a few days ago I wrote about the rules under which donations are made to political parties, and now the amounts that parties received in donations in the last quarter has been revealed.

Between them they received £10.7m, split down as follows:

• Conservatives: £5.6m
• Labour: £3.8m
• Liberal Democrats: £945,192

This is up from £8.1m last quarter, with the Lib Dems having the largest percentage increase, doubling their previous income, and the Conservatives increasing their income by £1.4m.

However, all parties have huge debts:

• Conservatives: £12.1m
• Labour: £17.9m
• Liberal Democrats: £1.1m

The Lib Dems seem in by far the best financial health, but this is probably because they aren’t required to piss away money in the same way as the other parties as they aren’t considered serious contenders for forming a government.

But none of the parties are particularly financially secure, though Labour is by far the weakest with their massive debt and comparatively low incomings. So we as individuals must ensure that we donate to our political party of choice to keep democracy going.

This income, however, does not include Short money - which is provided from the State coffers primarily to allow opposition parties to examine and oppose government policy. Of Short money, the parties received:

• Conservatives: £1.3m
• Labour: £132,156
• Liberal Democrats: £637,625

Which, to be honest, is pennies in comparison with other governmental spending and waste.

We do get our politics on a shoestring in comparison with other countries, really. But we must ensure that it continues, through disallowing further State party funding and promoting voluntary donations.