Astonishing
PoliticsHome has revealed the astonishing scale of donations made by members of the House of Lords to the parties that nominated them. According to PoliticsHome’s investigation, a quarter of peers appointed in the last decade were party donors.
More than £50 million has been donated by people appointed to the Lords since 2013. 276 peerages have been given since then, 154 of them Conservative, 46 crossbench, 41 Labour, 27 Lib Dem, five DUP, two Green and one SDLP.
There are no rules preventing political parties from appointing donors to the Lords, and PoliticsHome has made clear that they found no evidence that any of the donors had paid for access.
The biggest donations from Lords appointees have gone to the Conservative Party. Ten Tory peers donated more than £1 million to their party.
Green Party peer Natalie Bennett told PoliticsHome: “The distinguished individuals who arrive as experts or after long public service are essentially serving as fig leaves for a system that delivers 18th-century-style patronage.”
Meanwhile, the Electoral Reform Society’s senior director of campaigns told the publication: “Who gets to sit in Parliament influencing legislation should not be decided by how much money someone has given to a political party or their proximity to a prime minister.
“The result of this undemocratic system is an ever-expanding Lords, which now has around 800 members and is the second largest legislative chamber after China’s National People’s Congress.”
Chris Jarvis is head of strategy and development at Left Foot Forward
Image credit: Diliff – Creative Commons
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