This story [1] was originally published on OpenDemocracy.net/en/.

This story [1] was originally published on OpenDemocracy.net/en/.
License: Creative Commons 4.0 - Attributions/No Derivities/
international.
--------------------------------------------------------------

Shadowy groups face ‘no risk’ for breaking UK election law, experts tell MPs
By: []
Date: None

The UK’s election laws are too outdated and weak to prevent secretive political campaign groups from breaking them, experts and journalists warned MPs at an inquiry into election regulation.

Third-party campaign groups could be a “potential conduit for anonymous donations and even foreign money”, openDemocracy investigations editor Peter Geoghegan told the Public Administration and Constitutional Affairs Committee on Tuesday.

He added that a lack of regulation in dealing with third-party campaign groups posed a threat to democracy: “Dark money risks undermining the integrity of the electoral process at a time when surveys are showing us that there is growing discontent with democracy in the Western world.”

Geoghegan was asked to give evidence to the committee on a panel alongside Jess Garland, a policy director at the Electoral Reform Society, and Lord Hodgson, the author of a 2016 government review of third-party campaigning.

We win on government secrecy! We’ve just won a three-year transparency battle against Michael Gove’s department. Can you help us keep fighting government secrecy? Donate now

The current inquiry, which was launched by the House of Commons committee in September 2020, is examining the effectiveness of the Electoral Commission, the UK’s election regulator.

Garland told the committee that third-party campaign groups create “specific challenges” for the Electoral Commission. These groups face “no risk” for breaking election law because the watchdog does not receive enough information about them, and they can be given only small fines for wrongdoing, she said.

Third-party campaign groups are classed as individuals or organisations that campaign in the run-up to elections but do not stand as political parties or candidates. Many of these groups do not declare the source of their funding.

There has been a sharp rise in online campaigning by third-party groups. The number of these groups has tripled since 2010 and they spent a combined total of £2.7m in Facebook adverts at the 2019 general election.

[1] Url: https://www.opendemocracy.net/en/dark-money-investigations/shadowy-groups-face-no-risk-for-breaking-uk-election-law-experts-tell-mps/