Ahead of 2017, donations never totalled £10m to one party in a year. However, since then, that figure has been surpassed four times.
Harry Quilter-Pinner, IPPR interim executive director, said:“Political donations have doubled in UK in real terms since 2000, and even more concerning is the recent huge increase in ‘mega-donors’ giving more than £1m to one party in a year.
“This undermines trust in democracy and makes people feel their vote doesn’t count. No one person should be able to give more than £100,000 a year to a political party, to lower the risk that the concentration of highly wealthy individuals or big business skewed our political system.”
The IPPR is calling for a cap on individual and corporate donations to political parties at £100,000 per year, which would stop mega-donors – including foreign billionaires like Elon Musk – from having too strong an influence in UK politics.
It comes as part of a set of proposals around curbing inequality in the British democratic system. While wealthy foreigners can play a role in shaping the government, the IPPR has found that there remains significant voter inequality in the UK.
The turnout gap between those who own their home and those who rent grew by nearly a quarter, to 19%, between the general elections of 2017 and 2024.
Meanwhile, the disparity between between graduates and non-graduates who voted was 11%, twice as high as 2019.
Dr Ryan Swift, IPPR research fellow, said: “The widening turnout gaps between renters and homeowners, and graduates and non-graduates, highlight a glaring blind spot in tackling political inequality.”
The IPPR proposes an Elections Bill which would address the growing inequalities among voters and revitalise people’s enthusiasm for participating in democracy.
It would like to see “bold reforms” including automatic registration, lowering the voting age to 16, allowing a wider range of photo IDs and ensuring that donations to political parties are capped – so that UK people are influencing elections, not foreign billionaires.
Only half of UK adults voted in this year’s general election – the lowest share of the population to vote in a general election since universal suffrage.
Dr Parth Patel, IPPR associate director of democracy and politics, said: “We are close to the tipping point at which elections begin to lose legitimacy because the majority do not take part. That should be ringing more alarm bells than it is. We all know that elections aren’t perfect, but they are the only opportunity we get to express a desired future for ourselves and our country as a whole.
“So many people today feel alienated from organised politics. The government may overlook non-voters, but populists don’t. Government can and should look to bring people back into democracy. Capping big money donations, automatically registering voters and creating a new civic duty to staff polling stations will help get voters back.”
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