Dr Sam Power is the country's leading authority on political financing after working on the subject for over ten years. He was an expert consultant on the Committee on Standards in Public Life's Regulating Election Finance report, which has formed elements of the Government's current thinking in the lead up to an Elections Bill in the next King's Speech.
The Joint Committee on the National Security Strategy scrutinises the structures for Government decision-making on national security. As part of the Defending Democracy Inquiry, the committee held a session on the UK's approach to tackling foreign interference in the UK's political finances.
As part of this session, Sam argued that in an increasingly fragmented political space malign actors needed less money to influence electoral outcomes, because:
-
Voters are less partisan than before, and more willing to 'shop around'
-
The pool of the persuadable electorate is higher than it would have been historically, and we are likely to see elections decided on tighter margins where money is likely to have more influence
-
A reason for this fragmentation is, partly, anger with traditional politics, which means that money spent by disruptive forces trying to turn people off from politics altogether was likely to be more persuasive
-
If he was a malign foreign influence he would focus his money on advertising online in the period between elections, outside of the so-called 'regulated period', suggesting the hint was in the title. Why try and spend money when regulation is high and people are watching?
-
He also advocated for an annual cap on political donations, noting that talks often broke don't ion this over a distaste for the introduction of further state funding, he urged the Committee to find a cap that all parties could agree on which would not require extra money from the state.
Finally, commenting on cryptocurrency, he suggested that it was a big ask of the Electoral Commission to regulate this kind of donation given their regulatory skill set and how much time and money it would take to upskill them.