ABSTRACT
This chapter looks at the historical background to the present situation in Great Britain. It deals with the impact of party spending on election results and on issues relating to the possible reform of the law as it relates to party finance. The chapter draws on attention to: some anomalies in the contemporary legal framework; controls on party campaign spending; and political controversies over party finance. Party organizations at both local and national levels contributed very little to the costs of constituency campaigns, relative to the amounts expected from individual candidates. In general election years, the affiliation fees account for much smaller proportions of the total income, however, because of the additional donations obtained towards campaign costs, most of them from the unions. For much of the nineteenth century, party income and expenditure were marked by high costs and, by modern standards, corrupt practices.
