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The report on the review into party funding which can be found here.
It proposes funding parties based on public support and engagement so a party would receive money per vote (50 pence for the most recent general election, 25 pence for the others) and also a matched fund of £5 per 'subscriber' that the party recruits, capped at £5 million. However a party would need to have at least two seats at Westminster, Cardiff, Edinburgh or the European parliaments to be eligible.
Under these proposals the BNP wouldn't get public funding but wouldn't have any restrictions on private donations.
Although the report doesn't address specific scenarios, based on the 2005 election it would seem that this would probably increase the funding available to regional interest parties like SNP, Plaid Cymru but not for parties of a wider political base such as the BNP. Conversely that won't do much to challenge Labour/Tory dominance within England, merely force them to partner with local parties more.
The most interesting aspect is the subscriber method where parties are rewarded for recruiting new people which seems to somewhat try and address the current issues of a few wealthy people being the target and the lack of wider engagement. However a minimum £5 contribution from the subscriber might still create a problem in terms of civic participation. While not a great stand alone sum, for people on restricted incomes it still represents a chucnk of that week's money |
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