Charging for freedom of information requests for services that are already paid for by taxpayers is utterly wrong

The government is considering introducing charges for freedom of information requests. David Hencke argues that this would be fundamentally unjustifiable as it would limit both people’s right to know and the right to demand information on services they have already paid fo

Liberal market economies, business, and political finance: Britain under New Labour

The extent and nature of business financing of parties is an important feature of political finance. Britain’s transparent and permissive regulatory system provides an excellent opportunity to study business financing of parties. Business donations have been very important to the Conservative party over the last decade, and of only marginal importance to Labour. Unlike other Conservative contributors, business donors are more likely to contribute when the party is popular. In contrast to the previous period of Conservative government, the biggest British businesses tended to abstain from political finance under New Labour. However, their bias towards the Conservatives is affected by the party’s popularity and the closeness of an election. Britain shares the political importance of business financing of parties and its mixture of ideological and pragmatic motivations with other liberal market economies. However, in Britain the bias towards the right is much stronger and the role of big business more marginal

What price an MP?

The MPs expenses scandal is prompting a sea change in attitudes towards the claiming of money by the UK's elected representatives and will cause the composition of Parliament to be very different in the future, says David Hencke Copyright (c) 2009 The Author. Journal compilation (c) 2009 ippr.