‘I didn’t come into politics to watch our democracy auctioned off to the highest bidder.’
Manuela Perteghella is the Liberal Democrat MP for Stratford-on-Avon
There is something rotten at the heart of modern politics
The influence of money over our democratic system is no longer a creeping threat, rather a crisis. It rarely leads the news, but it corrodes everything.
I didn’t come into politics to watch our democracy auctioned off to the highest bidder. I came here to serve, to represent people, not power. In fact, I came into politics to speak truth to power.
Russian oligarchs. Tech tycoons. Fossil fuel barons. The faces change, but the pattern is familiar. They bankroll parties, prop up politicians, and pour dark money into culture wars and climate denial. And all too often, they do it legally.
They are agents of authoritarianism, funding the dismantling of democratic norms. They are helping to install and sustain strongmen abroad and wannabe strongmen at home – small, insecure men with dangerous ideas, who fawn over despots and dream of silencing dissent.
We’ve seen this play out in the United States, Hungary, Russia, Brazil – and yes, we are seeing it here in Britain too.
Our laws are full of holes. Campaign groups can accept anonymous donations. Foreign-linked cash can be channelled through shell companies. Donors are rewarded with influence.
I am therefore proud that during my first year in Parliament, I introduced the Political Donations Bill that would do three simple but vital things: cap political donations from individuals and organisations; close the loopholes that allow foreign money to shape our elections; and restore public confidence by putting fairness and transparency back at the heart of our political system.
I welcome the recent announcement from the government that forthcoming legislation will crack down on foreign interference in UK elections, tightening checks on political donations including shell companies, and subjecting donors to enhanced tests. However, as usual, the devil is in the detail, and I will be scrutinising and, if needed, strengthening these proposals, so that trust is fully restored in our democracy.
Over two-thirds of the British public support a cap on donations. People are tired of being shut out while billionaires buy access. They’re tired of a politics that feels rigged not by votes, but by wealth.
When hostile states can influence our elections with ease, through donations, disinformation, and dirty money, then democracy becomes a facade.
British values will not defend themselves, and if we cherish an open and accountable democracy, free and fair elections, integrity in public life, we must defend them – loudly, unapologetically, and together.
So here is my message: if we believe democracy matters, we need to prove it and this is our chance. We need to clean up the system. Strip out the influence of dark money. And make sure power in this country lies where it should, not with oligarchs, tycoons, and corporate lobbyists, but with the people.
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