I can remember the exact moment when I reluctantly went online to cancel my Labour Membership. It came 8 days ago when the news broke that Starmer had U-turned on his strategy of cancelling 2026 local elections. Labour’s pretext had been that the local government reorganisation, which they introduced, at the time of their choosing, would leave inadequate resources for the task of allowing 20% of the voting public their say at the ballot box this year.
But it wasn’t a point of principle that had led to the Labour U-turn, It was because Nigel Farage had brought a court case against the policy, and that would have been the week when the government was humiliated in court, .
Now the lawyer squatting in No 10 had decided to settle the case, to avoid inevitable defeat. You couldn’t make it up – the complete lack of principles combined with hopeless incompetence. I was both ashamed and terrified.
Looking around the smoking ruins of Labour’s policies and promises, all its task forces and targets, there is another, even more terrifying fact – that none of the other political parties have any credibility either. Whoever wins tomorrow in the Manchester by-election, it wont help me much.
All this might sound like a recipe for hopelessness but it is not. There is something I can do and something we can all do – even though it will involve holding our noses to to do it.
Prem Sikka gave a speech in the House of Lords this week outlining his proposed reform to Political Party funding. Lord Sikka, an Emeritus Professor of Accountancy says: “Corporations and the super-rich buy influence and power by getting access to policymakers. Their interests are writ large in policy priorities of political parties. Less well-off people can’t compete in the influence bazaars and suffer. Possibilities of democracy are stymied.
“Ending political donations is a necessary step on the road to democracy. Needless to say major parties, fed by the super-rich, disagree with me.”
But there are other democracies where Sikka’s policy is running very successfully. Germany is the closest model to what he is advocating? Parties get roughly 1 Euro funding per vote, plus €0.45 matched per €1 from private sources like donations (max €3,300/donor). Total public funds can’t exceed private ones.
If it works in Germany, the UK really should debate it. Our political class has let us down; the leaders emerging from the UK political system are derisory, and the party machines must accept a large part of the blame for that.
So the problem is less about what to do, and more about how to get the Turkeys currently running the party machines to vote for Christmas. That is the true scale of the challenge – how do we motivate a million people who are disaffected and alienated by politics to join a political party and campaign actively for a change to the party funding system.
Its not a pipe dream. It could be achieved by a sustained, well-funded, and fully transparent campaign of Entryism – NB #GeorgeSoros #openDemocracy. Entryism was invented by the far left – SWP, WRP and Militant – when they were taking control of the Labour Party.
We don’t want to take control – we want to effect a change and get out. And if we start now we could get a new Party Funding Act in place by the next election.
Contact news@off-grid.net, or Lord Sikka direct, if you want to get involved in planning and campaigning for the Party Funding Bill.