Beith's Committee findings backed by report on party funding

9.38.14am GMT Thu 22nd Mar 2007

Sir Hayden Phillips' report has been welcomed by the Liberal Democrats.

The publication of Sir Hayden Phillips' report, "A Review of the Funding of Political Parties", has been welcomed by Berwick MP Alan Beith, who is Chairman of the Constitutional Affairs Committee.

Alan said:

"I welcome the fact that this independent report very closely follows the unanimous conclusions of my Committee: that change is needed, that more taxpayers money should only go the parties if it is part of a reform package that ends the influence of the big paymasters and that there should be agreed and binding caps on ALL donations and spending.

"In our Committee, Labour, Conservative and Liberal Democrat members all agreed that the present system was unsustainable and there should be fundamental change, but that no individual party should be put at a disadvantage by the way change is implemented.

"We were particularly struck by the experience in Canada, where the New Democrat Party had maintained its close links to the trade unions despite ending large scale union funding. All parties were adapting to strict spending and donation limits and there was public acceptance that a greater element of public money was needed to 'clean up' politics.

"The parties now need to to get together and agree on a basis for implementing what both my Committee and Sir Hayden see as the only way to achieve public confidence, through what he calls a 'fair and sustainable system' ".

The Committee's December party funding report can be found at http://www.publications.parliament.uk/pa/cm200607/cmselect/cmconst/163/163i.pdf

Sir Hayden Phillips' report can be found at http://www.partyfundingreview.gov.uk/