You need to be a British resident to join , or register, any of the major British political parties. This is in contrast to many European political parties which have no such rule
The Electoral Commission maintains the 2 registers of political parties for Great Britain and the one in Northern Ireland
Registered political parties and their officers must comply with the law, in particular as set out in the Political Parties, Elections and Referendums Act 2000 (PPERA). ..These rules include continuous controls on donations, loans, campaign spending, annual accounts, keeping your registered details up to date and annual renewal of your registration. Before deciding to apply, it is important that you read all our published guidance on registering a political party and our guidance for party treasurers to get an understanding of the registration process and the financial reporting obligations.
-A minor party can only contest parish council elections in England and/or community council elections in Wales. Minor parties cannot contest elections in Scotland or Northern Ireland. Minor parties are not subject to the same financial reporting obligations that political parties are.
-Independent candidates at parish and community council elections can, at the discretion of the Returning Officer, use a description not registered with us provided that the description does not exceed six words in length and cannot be confused with a registered political party
Political party finance: Ending the big donor culture...Presented to Parliament by the Prime Minister by Command of Her Majesty. 2011 :
We have come to the conclusion that the only safe way to remove big money from party funding is to put a cap
on donations, set at £10,000.
it would only be reasonable to regard trade unions
affiliation fees as the bundling together of a series of individual payments to which the cap would be applied
individually if:
-the unions were to change to an arrangement in which their members were required to opt in to the payment
of an affiliation fee on their behalf to the Labour Party, instead of opting out;
-their members were able not to opt in to the affiliation fee without opting out of the other activities financed
out of their unions political fund; and
-certain other conditions were met to prevent affiliation fees being manipulated so as to exert improper
influence.
The regulatory regime introduced by the Political Parties, Elections and Referendums Act 2000 (the 2000 Act),
main proposals
there are three possible ways to take big money out of party politics:
A/ restricting the amount any individual donor can give,
B/ reducing the amount the parties need to raise by limiting their expenditure,
C/ providing funds from the public purse
Ourconclusion is that a workable solution needs to combine all three.
Trade union donations
Our recommendation about affiliation fees is likely to
be controversial. The history of opting in and out has
considerable political resonance.
But our survey of public opinion suggests that the
concern about large donations creating inappropriate
influence applies to trade union donations as much as
to those from elsewhere. We would not be dealing
with the problem adequately if we failed to respond
to that concern. Our recommendations will require all
the main parties to make significant changes in the
relationships they have with their major funders. Nor are
we making the proposal in isolation. It forms part of a
comprehensive reform package intended to promote
integrity in a major part of our democratic system.
It is, of course, up to the Labour Party and the trade
unions and other affiliated bodies to decide if they wish
to change their processes for collecting and paying
affiliation fees. Without such a change, they cannot
reasonably expect the payments not to be subject to
the cap in aggregate, and therefore limited to £10,000
a year from each affiliated body. The changes we
propose are the minimum necessary to ensure that
individual contributions towards affiliation fees can
genuinely be treated as individual donations
Full list of recommendations
Recommendation 1 (see also Recommendation 23)
A cap of £10,000 should be placed on donations to a political party or regulated donee from any
individual or organisation in any year.
,Recommendation 2
Private companies donating to political parties should declare their ultimate ownership and be able to
demonstrate that their owners would be permissible donors if they had given the same money directly.
A controlling shareholders share of any corporate donations, when added to any personal donations,
should not be allowed to exceed the £10,000 cap.
Recommendation 3
To be a permissible donor all companies, whether publicly or privately owned, should have to be able to
demonstrate that they are trading in the UK and earning sufficient income here to fund any donations.
Recommendation 4
If they continue to be collected and paid as now, affiliation fees paid to the Labour Party by trade
unions and other affiliated bodies should be subject to the £10,000 cap. But the affiliated union or other
body could, if they wish, change their procedures so the fees could be regarded as an aggregation of
individual payments, to which the cap applies individually and not collectively, if:
-The individual members of the affiliated body make a positive decision to contribute to the Labour
Party by opting in to the affiliation payment when they join the body in question. Existing members
should be asked to make a decision when any changes come into effect.
-The arrangements for opting in, the amount of the affiliation fee and the different rate payable when
not opting in are clearly set out in the information given to members at the point of joining and
prominently on the organisations website in a form set and monitored by the Electoral Commission.
-The members of an affiliated union are able to contribute to their unions political fund even if they
choose not to pay that part of the levy which represents the affiliation fee.
-The fees paid accurately reflect the number of members opting in, are handed over automatically
and are not capable of being held back for any reason.
Recommendation 5
Additional public support should be provided to the parties in the form of:
- Tax relief at the basic rate on donations up to £1,000 and on membership fees, with an equivalent tax
credit for donations from non-taxpayers.
-Public funding calculated as so many pence for every vote received at the last election, the amount
to be determined when the new arrangements come into force.
Parties should not be eligible to receive either form of support unless they meet the minimum
qualifications for Policy Development Grants, or any equivalent introduced in the devolved legislatures,
and are therefore subject to the donation cap.
Recommendation 6
The existing limits on campaign spending during elections to the Westminster Parliament and devolved
legislatures should be reduced. The amount of the reduction should be determined when the new
arrangements come into force, but should be around 15 per cent.
Recommendation 7
The cap on donations, the additional state funding and the reduction in campaign spending limits
should not be introduced until immediately after the next Westminster election, due in 2015.
Recommendation 8
The financial impact of the arrangements we have proposed should be reviewed shortly before
implementation to consider whether any fine-tuning is required to ensure fairness between the parties.
The level of the Labour Party affiliation fee should be suitably constrained until then. This Committee
should carry out a further, post-implementation review two years after the new regime comes into force,
to assess how well the regime is delivering its objectives in light of the principles set out in Chapter 2,
including fairness, and to consider whether any further regulatory changes are required.
Recommendation 9
The Electoral Commission should consider how it can best operate under a capped regime and review
the powers it needs to regulate the new arrangements effectively.
Recommendation 10
The Electoral Commission should pay particular attention to the risk of third parties being used to avoid
the cap. It should review the definition of third parties and the registration and reporting requirements
for third parties and other organisations engaged in wider political activities, including think tanks. The
Government should legislate to give the Commission any additional powers required, including powers
of investigation outside the regulated period. The extent to which third parties are becoming used as an
avoidance mechanism should be one of the main issues for the proposed post-implementation review.
Recommendation 11
The need for continuing central reporting and publication of donations should be reconsidered as
part of the post-implementation review. The Electoral Commission should consult on the best way of
ensuring continued effective transparency under the new regime. Initially, the threshold for reporting
donations to central parties should be reduced to £5,000. Reporting of donations above £1,500 to
accounting units and regulated donees should continue.
Recommendation 12
The political parties should set out their sources and uses of funds in an easily intelligible way. To do
so, they should immediately begin producing their accounts according to a set of common, publicly
available standards, before the new regime comes into force.
Recommendation 13
The requirement in the Political Parties Elections and Referendums Act 2000 that only donors on an
approved electoral register can donate to a UK political party should be put beyond doubt.
Recommendation 14
On making a donation above the permissibility threshold donors should be asked to certify:
- If an individual, that they are on a permitted electoral register and that the donation is their own
money and does not breach the donation cap.
- If a company, that they are carrying out business in the UK and have generated enough income from UK
trading to cover the donation. If part of a group of companies, they should also certify that the donation
would not breach the cap when added to donations from any other company within their group.
Recommendation 15
There should be a review of the current structure of offences under the legislation governing elections
and party funding and of the ability of the Electoral Commission to apply effectively the civil sanctions it
now possesses.
Recommendation 16
The parties should open discussions with a view to replacing the different limits on campaign spending
for different elections with a single limit covering all elections in a single Westminster Parliamentary
cycle.
Recommendation 17
The long and short campaign periods should, for simplicity, be combined into a single regulated period
for candidate spending in line with the four month period for elections to the devolved legislatures and
European Parliament.
Recommendation 18
Existing definitions of regulated campaign expenditure should be looked at again in light of the
standardisation of party accounts, to guard against significant under-reporting.
Recommendation 19
Parties should publish the citations provided by the party leader for political appointments to the House
of Lords, giving the reason for the nomination.
Recommendation 20
Policy Development Grants should be made available to parties with significant representation in
the devolved legislatures, either by extending the Westminster scheme or by introducing equivalent
schemes.
Recommendation 21
The exemption from inheritance tax should be extended to donations to political parties with
representation in the devolved legislatures.
Recommendation 22
The Government should commit to a timetable to subject donations in Northern Ireland to the same
transparency regime as in the rest of the United Kingdom. By the end of this Parliament, it should
publish summary details of the total volume of donations above the reporting limit and the extent to
which they come from Irish citizens residing outside the United Kingdom