[political finance] Listener: ‘One law for MPs Bill’ is ‘blatantly unfair’

This week’s Listener editorial brands Labour’s Appropriation (Continuation of Interim Meaning of Funding for Parliamentary Purposes) Bill as the ‘One law for MPs Bill’, and strongly criticizes the proposed legislation for being ‘blatantly unfair’. The editorial says that despite the bill’s tedious title, and combined with the ‘anti-democratic’ Electoral Finance Bill, it will have a profound impact on elections by allowing incumbent political parties and MPs to have a huge advantage over any challengers. Essentially the ruling parties will face different spending rules to any challengers and will effectively have a ‘legalised advantage’. The Government is criticized for trying to rush through the legislation, and concludes that ‘the public deserve better’.