The British electoral system is wide open to abuse from malign or foreign actors seeking to unfairly influence our politics as a result of major loopholes in election law which puts the integrity of the next General Election at risk.
It is incontestable that bad actors could circumvent the spirit of existing electoral law to inject enormous sums of money into our politics, whether foreign governments, their proxies, or foreign business people or organisations seeking to distort our politics. The House of Commons Library has found that current “rules allow foreign money to be donated to UK political parties in several different ways”. This is a threat to our democracy and a national security risk.
Current electoral finance rules are also damaging public trust in the UK’s electoral integrity and political parties.
China and Russia spent over $300 million (at a conservative estimate) to influence democratic processes in at least 33 countries between 2010 and 2020, with 30 “financial attacks” a year since 2016. According to the US State Department, Russia alone is estimated to have given over $300 million to political parties, officials and politicians in more than 24 countries between 2014 and 2022. New concerns have arisen about foreign interference from organisations or individuals that hold extreme views who may seek to donate to UK political parties despite not being eligible to do so.
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