The Political Machine: IndyWales & Political Parties

Finally: “the boring bit”. The good news is that the current system works relatively well and probably only needs to be tweaked rather than completely overhauled.

Local government is responsible for maintaining the local electoral register and undertaking election-related tasks (more on this in Part III).

As for political parties and elections/referendums, as in most democracies there’s an independent regulatory body.

At present, that’s mainly the role of The Electoral Commission (Part III), though the (Local) Democracy and Boundary Commission is set to have a far greater role in devolved elections (local government and Senedd).

What should be regulated?

There may be some things I’ve missed, but the list is mostly as it is now. In principle, anything that requires consistency across all political parties is best regulated; anything related to pluralism (Part I) or policy is best left to the political parties themselves.

So this could mean – as suggested – that candidate selections and leadership elections may need to be regulated independently. They may already do so in terms of recording donations (as we’ve seen recently with the 2024 Welsh Labour leadership election).

This could be extended to all registered parties using the same method to select candidates or elect a leader – the justification being that these are for public-facing political roles, not just relating to the administration of a party.

Similarly, things like canvassing and political advertising (broadcast and online) could do with tighter regulation. I’m surprised canvassing/door-knocking still happens; it doesn’t seem effective and just inconveniences everyone involved.

This may mean a Welsh electoral regulator needing more funding if it has to regulate/monitor certain internal elections. The leadership structure would need to change too, with a Wales-only Commission and Board – probably arising from a merger between the Electoral Commission and the Democracy & Boundary Commission (Part III).

Do we need extra rules for political parties?

I doubt there’s any need to make any other major changes to the rules, guidance and remit – though there might be a few areas worthy of consideration:

• A dedicated category of unincorporated association for political parties, campaign organisations (for referendums) and Independent political groups; limited companies can’t be registered as political parties or stand in elections (because this circumvents certain rules around funding and administration).
• As suggested, Independent political groups (such as those which run local authorities or form united opposition groups) should be registered as such with the Electoral Commission and subject to some of the same regulatory requirements as political parties. This wouldn’t apply to individual/non-affiliated Independents.
• The register of donations, loans, borrowing, gifts etc. should be updated and published as soon as practically possible via a “provisional list” or something similar.
• All political parties should (if they don’t already) publish an annual report including information about donations, membership churn, finances etc.
• Anyone who fails a “fit and proper person test”, or fails to meet the criteria to stand in an election, could be barred from donating or similar to a political party or campaign.
• A Welsh electoral regulator (Part III) could be given the power to block a donation, gift, loan etc. if there are justifiable suspicions about it; parties and campaign groups that break this rule could face unlimited fines or possible de-registration.
• There’s a debate to be had whether financial support for political parties at the Senedd – currently worth £1.15million-per-year¹ – should be folded into a Welsh electoral regulator’s responsibilities, or remain part of the Remuneration Board’s remit (Part III).

1. Independent Remuneration Board of the Senedd (March 2024). “Determination on Members’ Pay & Allowances” (p58-60). Available at: https://senedd.wales/media/nhalkbed/gen-ld16428-e.pdf