71% of Britons Back a Total Ban on Political Donations

The majority of voters would back a complete ban on political donations, exclusive polling for Babelfish has revealed.

And twice as many people would choose a publicly funded approach over the current system – despite the small cost to each taxpayer, equivalent to the price of a standard packet of crisps per year.

Campaigner Dale Vince agrees, even though he has himself donated millions to Labour over the years.

He said: "Rather than dance around this issue from year to year, playing 'whack-a-mole' trying to close the latest loophole in donations, a ban on all donations is a simple, clear and enduring approach.

"No donations means no loopholes. As well as no influence."

A survey of over 2,000 people shows strong support for some sort of radical reform of political funding, which many believe threatens our democracy.

Cryptocurrency

The polling by Survation found that a legal cap on the size of donations was favoured by almost two-thirds (64%). And the most popular level for a cap was relatively low, at just £10,000.

However, senior Labour figures are reluctant to go further than the most recent changes made to the Representation of the People Bill which now stops UK donors who live overseas giving more than £100,000 and bans cryptocurrency donations.

But there are growing calls from their own MPs to introduce a domestic cap as well. Our Survation results suggest that public opinion has moved well ahead of the political establishment on this issue.

This is why Dale Vince is calling for a complete ban. He said: "If you talk to politicians about public funding for politics, they'll tell you the public don't want it. Turns out, they're out of touch.

"Our polling shows a clear and overwhelming appetite from the public to fix what's become a running sore in British politics – the corrosive influence of big money. Two-thirds of people support public funding and an end to private influence, whether real or perceived. People are fed up with the suspicion, the access, the sense that political decisions are being shaped by donors rather than the national interest. This is a chance to properly clean up politics, once and for all.

"And the cost? Around the price of a packet of crisps per person each year. A tiny price to pay to make sure politicians work for the country – not their biggest donors."

Some MPs privately admit they would be reluctant to push for a new state system of political funding because they fear a backlash from the public whose trust in them reached an all-time low of just 5% in a poll of 45,000 people commissioned by Ecotricity last year.

But the mood of the nation is undoubtedly hardening – of those who said they would vote in a referendum on political donations, 71% said they would support a total ban, compared with 29% who would not. Some 57% said the wealthy have too much influence and the system should be changed. Only 22% said it was currently broadly fair.

Of the 64% who supported introducing an annual legal cap on donations, 26% supported a £10,000 limit, while 20% favoured £50,000.

The public is clearly very unhappy about big-money donors. When asked what worried them most, 39% said it was wealthy individuals having too much influence, compared with 19% who were more concerned about taxpayer money being used to support parties they do not back.

But the government shows no signs of going any further just yet. Earlier this year, after what Labour called landmark changes to protect UK democracy from the "scourge of foreign actors and financial influence", Steve Reed, Secretary of State for Housing, Communities and Local Government, identified the problem, saying: "Foreign interference and dirty money are menacing the integrity of our elections."

But still no plans to resist the scourge of domestic mega-donors are set to follow.