Should large donations to political parties and candidates be banned?

[Kendodd]

I know this would mean them getting some tax payer money instead but ultimately, I'm sure that must be better value overall. Maybe a cap of £20 a month. I mean why would anyone give hundreds of thousands of pounds to a political party if it didn't benefit them? Politicians are not charity doing good works, they set the regulations and taxes that affect their donors and everyone else. And the fact is, donations buy influence and sometimes even government contracts. I include in the union funding and block voting. Also, it can't be right that Westminster is awash with Russia money.

YANBU- Yes, ban big donations
YABU - No, keep big donations

Absolutely. There should be a level playing field when it comes to how much political parties are able to hold.

Apparently the Labour Party is very short of funds now and it's going to affect how much they can campaign.

Problem is, the power to do anything about this is in the hands of the government, this benefits them and so they are not going to do anything about it. It's the ultimate corruption imo.

£20 a month is very low. But I don’t disagree with you on principle.

Also, although this vote is 100% I believe generally the public are against tax payer funding for political parties which I think is a case of not seeing beyond the end of your own nose.

£20 a month is very low.

Actually, thinking about it, maybe it should be zero, and with no membership fees to join parties. Even very low membership fees would exclude the poorest people and therefore reduce their influence and ability to shape policy.

I can see the benefits of restrictions donations from organisations or private individuals, but there is then the issue of taxpayer funding.

But also how would new parties get funding without donations? As in my view we need wider voices in politics rather than restricting it to the two main parties.

I don't disagree but, our fptp system works against us in the respect. That would need change first. Again because, like big donations, it advantages the Tories (in the main) I can't see it happening.

Oh look, someone in favour of big donors. I'd really like to hear your thinking? The main reason I can see is that we don't want them to have public money and I can really see why that would get people's heckles up.