Political finance in the UK was effectively unregulated until 2000 with the passing of the Political Parties, Elections and Referendums Act (PPERA). PPERA has been successful, with regulations having become broadly embedded. Yet, there are clearly potential issues for the regulation of political finance. Some of these are a consequence of broader trends, like technological change and the internationalisation of business and citizen residence. But equally, some issues may be exacerbated either through unforeseen consequences (extending the franchise to those citizens resident overseas for life) or by the conscious pushing of the boundaries in terms of what may be regarded as the accepted rules of the game, both by political parties and by third parties, where there are clear signs of the volume of activity growing. Regulatory problems are not new, but in these three areas (digital, foreign money and third parties), there is clear potential for the way in which elections are conducted to be altered. This paper explores these challenges to the current regulatory system for political finance in greater depth and then discusses how the systems may need to develop to deal with those challenges. It also makes it clear that no system can effectively eliminate foreign money, foreign campaigning or challenges to parties as the principal campaigners in elections without embarking on wholly unreasonable levels of restriction. Equally, legislators can recognise the potential for growing problems and make plans at least to protect the integrity of elections.
Justin Fisher (2023) studied this question.