Should rich people get extra votes at the election?

Most rich people own companies, they provide employment, they understand how our economy works. Should we give rich people 100 votes each at the next election, while restricting the rest of us to just a single vote? After all, they must be exceptionally gifted people to earn so much, so they must be better placed to pick our government, instead of ordinary people like us? [By rich, I mean earning £500k per year or more.]

Anyone agree?

I accept that it does seem a little unfair because it could mean that rich people would have an unfair advantage in deciding election results. According to the HMRC’s Survey of Personal Incomes there are 35,000 to 40,000 individuals in the UK with incomes of more than £500k per year, so that is 53 such people in each constituency, more than enough to overturn most majorities.

Instinctively, most of us feel that in an election, everyone should have an equal say in choosing our government, we would accept nothing less, or would we?

Does Money Buy Influence?

The ‘Rycroft Review into Countering Foreign Financial Influence in Uk Politics’ was published last week and although it focused primarily on money coming from abroad, it brings the whole issue of political donations to the fore.

The report reveals that for UK political parties only 10% of their funds come from UK government funding – the rest comes from private and corporate (business) donations. There is no legal limit on the total amount a single individual or business can give to a political party in a year.

In the table at the bottom of this article are listed the five largest donations given to our parties in 2024. Do we believe that when Gary Lubner gave £4.5 million to the Labour party, he was purchasing influence? Did the £4 million donation to the Labour party by Quadrature Capital purchase extra influence for that company? (Again, see table at bottom) Would Frank Hester’s donation of £5 million to the Conservative Party allow him to influence their policies?

The answer to these questions must be ‘Yes’. We have a system that allows rich people to buy political influence.

Can Foreign Countries Purchase Influence?

At the moment, anyone on our electoral register who has left the UK for tax reasons, who does not live here, does not pay any tax towards this country and who will be largely unaffected by our government can donate unlimited amounts to our political parties.

The Rycroft Review is an attempt to limit foreign influence on UK politicians, too many of whom seem to be funded by interest groups from abroad.

The main Rycroft proposals are:

1. Tax exiles who no longer live in the UK can only donate £100,000 per year, or roughly £400,000 per election cycle to UK parties. This will still buy significant influence from abroad.
2. A temporary ban on donations via Cryptocurrencies as it is almost impossible to trace their source.
3. Two beneficial and complex changes to prevent shell companies in the UK from piping foreign money to our political parties.
4. Strengthening regulations for foreign-based entities to ensure they must register under the Lobbying Act.

While I welcome the suggestions from Rycroft, they do not go far enough. Our politicians are still open to influence for money.

[Local NI Political parties did not seem to attract much money from private donations with only Alliance (£20k from Joseph Rowntree Foundation) and SF (£25k from Republican Merchandising) attracting significant private donations last year.]

Personally, I believe that the UK government should be the primary source of funding of our political parties and that no donation of more than £500 per year from an individual or business should be legal. This would cost the government a small amount of money in comparison to the harm that will be done if we fall further into the arms of the big donor, lobbying groups and PAC system that has corrupted US politics. We do not want to end up like the USA where US congressmen openly vote solely in the interests of their donors and directly against the interests of their voters.

What do you think?

Arnold Carton

Arnold is a retired teacher from Lisburn, now living in Belfast.