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Trade Unions, the Labour Party, and Political Funding By KD Ewing. A Catalyst Paper. The funding of political parties is again the subject of anxious inquiry. The position was only recently reformed in the wide-ranging and far-reaching Political Parties, Elections and Referendums Act 2000. But this now seems unlikely to be the last word on the matter. Fresh controversy has been sparked by a number of donations by businessmen to the Labour Party, and to a lesser extent by the decisions of a number of trade unions to reduce their annual affiliation to the Labour Party. In the light of the bad publicity surrounding these donations a new funding problem has emerged: no longer a problem of large donations and allegations of donations bringing benefits, but a problem of no donations and a financial crisis for the parties. This report, by an internationally recognised authority on the issue, carefully examines the case for further regulation of party funding. It emphasises the need to maintain the Labour Party - trade union link; for further self-regulation by the Labour Party to eliminate large private donations, and for greater state support (but not state funding of) political parties. Keith Ewing is Professor of Public Law, Kings College London. He specialises in constitutional law and labour law, and has written extensively on the funding of political parties. His books on the subject include Trade Unions, the Labour Party and the Law (1982), The Funding of Political Parties in Britain (1987), Money, Politics and Law (1992). He gave evidence to the Home Affairs Committee on The Funding of Political Parties in 1993, and presented the Labour Party's evidence to the Neill Committee's inquiry into the funding of political parties in 1998.
NEW!
"Trade Unions and Democracy" - TUC fringe debate "Labour split on state funding of political parties" - Red Pepper, December 2002 "We can clean up if the state pays" - Tribune, 24 October 2002 "State funding call prompts Labour row" - ePolitix, 15 October 2002 "Funding deal with unions falls through" - The Guardian, 30 September 2002 "Unions fear assault on Labour link" - The Guardian, 8 July 2002
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