Details are emerging of the Labour Party’s proposal for a new regime of state funding for political parties. Parties would receive funding based on formula that gave a base figure supplemented by an amount per vote won (with a figure of $2 a vote suggested). According to a Dominion Post article, this would net Labour about £2m a year. There are a few significant problems particular to Labour's proposals:
- This funding would not clean up current parliamentary funding, but would be in addition to the millions already taken annually by the parliamentary parties.
- In receiving the funding, parties would be obliged to meet certain statutory requirements (who controls it, what it is spent on etc), allowing the state to further shape the nature and activities of parties.
- Some parties would be excluded from funding, such as those not meeting a ‘threshold party vote’ – an undemocratic device similar to the 5% threshold under MMP, which would serve to keep more radical and small parties from developing.
