resources. A better solution would be to introduce strict and extremely low caps on individual and corporate donations. Sir Christopher Kelly's Committee on Standards in Public Life recommended in its report last year a 10,000-a-year limit on annual donations. This, Kelly wrote in The Daily Telegraph this week, was "still a substantial sum. But we judged it low enough to convince most people that it was unlikely to secure favours in return". The trouble is, Kelly wants the state to help make up the shortfall - to the tune of 23m. But why should a hard-working factory worker in the Midlands help finance the Liberal Democrats through his taxes if he thinks that Nick Clegg is a total wally? Instead, let the parties chase new members - and new, small-scale donors. Market forces, so beloved by our political elite when it doesn't affect their interests, need to be introduced to our political system. Parties which put forward genuinely popular policies will have nothing to worry about because they'll get public support; those which put forward unpopular policies will fail. We'd move away from a corrupt, oligopolistic political system where elite interests dominate, to one where majority concerns come top. In short we'd be living in a real democracy, which will surely be better than what we have at present. No comments: About Me The pro-life, pro-family, pro-worker and anti-war voice of an economically social democratic, morally and socially conservative patriotism towards the North of England, the United Kingdom, the Commonwealth