10 Minute Rule on capping political donations

Manuela Perteghella, Liberal Democrat MP and APPG for Fair Elections member, today moved a motion in the House of Commons calling for limits to political donation in the UK.

The 10 Minute Rule Bill, which passed its first reading unopposed, would:

• Put a cap on political donations
  
• Review where this cap should be set
  
• Restrict donations made by foreign nationals through UK companies.

It is welcome to see growing demand across Parliament for limits on the influence of big money in politics. Speaking on BBC News at 10 recently, our APPG Chair, Alex Sobel MP, called for a change in the rules to prevent rich individuals having undue influence through huge, potentially unlimited, donations into our democratic system.

Eliminating dark money and undue influence from British politics is one of our APPG’s three aims, alongside replacing the First Past the Post voting system and countering disinformation in election campaigns. Each of these three threats reflects the same underlying problem: they afford some people in Britain far greater say over our democracy than others. Read out report – Free But Not Fair – which sets out how addressing these is key to tackling the crisis of trust in our political system.