Will Burnham call time on Big Money politics?

Delayed or derailed?

The Elections Bill— meant to finally clean up political funding in the UK— was supposed to pass this week. Instead, it’s been pushed to September because Andy Burnham wants to rewrite it. The question now is whether he’ll strengthen it or water it down. 

This delay gives overseas billionaires two more months to buy influence through shell companies, paper member’s clubs, and opaque corporate structures. Two more months for parties to take questionable cash and pretend they didn’t hear the alarm bells. Public pressure, including from our People’s Lobby, had forced some strong amendments onto the table including bans on untraceable crypto donations, and even a £1million, or £100,000 cap on domestic donations. Now, it could go either way, we could see these essential additions baked into the bill (giving them a much greater chance of passing), possibly expanded or made stronger… or they might be kicked into the long grass.

Rushanara Ali— one of the MPs who helped draft the bill— has already urged Burnham to go further, calling the original version “timid and limited”, and echoing our demands for a crypto ban. She’s right. This is a chance to finally tackle the poisonous impact of Big Money in our politics. But delays like this are worrying. Just like the Illicit Finance Summit being kicked down the road, it’s another sign that the Government still isn’t ready to clean up its act, or look seriously at the UK’s role as an enabler of dirty money and the erosion of democracy.

The problem with Big Money poltiics

Big Money politics only serves the 0.001%. It’s a raw deal for everyone else. It’s not just why there’s yacht‑shaped holes in so many of our tax policies, it’s also why public projects so often feel like a rip‑off. Just look at the new report on £10 billion of public cash being squandered during COVID, on PPE bought through a “VIP lane”. 15 of the 36 businesses that were given “favourable treatment” for getting lucrative government contracts had Tory party connections. PPE Medpro— linked to major Conservative donors Baroness Mone and her husband— received a £122 million contract for equipment, much of which ultimately couldn’t be used as it failed to meet standards. The government is suing, but may struggle to recover our cash because the company has gone bust. And HMRC says they’re waiting on a £39 million unpaid tax bill too!

And the PPE scandal isn’t a one‑off. Companies linked to Conservative donors were awarded £8.4 billion in public contracts during their 8 years in power. Major donor Frank Hester’s firm alone received £427.7 million, while he donated £15.3 million to the Conservatives. And we see the same red flags under Labour, with companies tied to Labour donors already receiving contracts worth almost £138 million in their first year in power. Big Money has saturated  politics, at our expense. Millions go into donations to parties. In return, hundreds of millions of taxpayer money is awarded in business contracts to donors.  

That’s why Burnham talking about ending outsourcing is a good sign. Outsourcing, combined with a toxic culture of access for the super‑rich— just look at the Mandelson scandal— has been hollowing out the country. For too long, our political system has been rigged to warp our economy, our tax system, and our public services to benefit the wealthy, not the public. And it’s getting worse. But we can stop the rot by making sure we keep it in the spotlight, where the government can’t dodge scrutiny.

Parties took a record £100 million last year. Two‑thirds of all individual donations came from just 19 mega‑donors. The cheques are getting bigger, and the sources are getting murkier. Nigel Farage— who wants to be the next Prime Minister — failed to declare a £5 million gift from a crypto billionaire who has also given Reform £25 million. And now he’s being scrutinised for gifts from George Cottrell, a convicted fraudster. 

Our politicians are being bought. Our democracy is for sale. Burnham now has a choice: take our democracy off the market and kick Big Money out of politics— or continue to leave the future of our country in the hands of a self-serving elite. The Elections Bill in September will tell us everything. In the first weeks of Burnham’s premiership, we’ll learn who he intends to serve: ordinary people, or the extraordinarily wealthy.