In December last year, we shared that a quarter of all donations to the Conservatives came from the property industry in general since Boris Johnson became leader and now, today, the Guardian went further and revealed that an astonishing fifth of all donations to the party have come from the residential element of that sector in the last decade.
Aside from the Housing Secretary Robert Jenrick having deservedly come under criticism for helping along the planning processes for extremely lucrative development schemes of rich donors such as Richard Desmond previously, the anti-corruption Transparency International UK group has now highlighted that “the Conservatives received £60.8m in donations from individuals and companies related to substantial property interests” between 2010 and 2020. Going further, they added: “Of property-related donations to all parties, 80% went to the Tories.”
The report noted: “While we have seen insufficient evidence to prove beyond reasonable doubt any direct quid pro quo arrangements of donations for decisions, this dependence creates a real risk of aggregative corruption, whereby the actions and judgments of ministers are incentivised by their party’s financial ties to interest groups in this policy area.”
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Aside from describing this as “of serious concern,” Transparency International UK’s policy director suggested lobbying efforts by the construction industry on the Conservative government was “woefully opaque.”
Of this, the Guardian remarked: “In just three years from 2017 to 2020, the research uncovered, ministers held 669 meetings with 894 different interest groups to discuss housing issues, but in more than 40% of cases departmental information described the subjects being discussed only as ‘housing’ or ‘planning.’”
With Labour under fire also after “beleaguered” deputy leader Angela Rayner was exposed for taking a £10,000 donation from a residential developer, the stench of the power of commercial and residential construction companies and estate agents over the current batch of politicians at Westminster has become especially pungent.
It is time at the very least for an investigation into the over-reliance of political parties on funding from this sector and it is frankly time for stricter regulation of what, when and how such money can be given (and the ‘obligations’ that go with it).
Readers have their say
3 comments
I dont really know but I imagine that if you were a developer and went up to your MP, Chief Planning Officer, Chair of Planning on the Council, Housing Minister and HM Chief Inspector of Planning Appeals and said with a wink ‘here is £60m know what I mean’ I would imagine that you would get your collar felt. I cannot imagine that any of them could keep it without they in turn being also called to book. How is it then that once incorporated in a political party it is not only allowed but positively encouraged with the hidden message certainly being noted and likely a Peerage bonus spat out. Me-thinks there is a rabbit loose.
Thick as thieves the lot of them.
The property sector gets huge support from all political parties because they are scared to rock the boat and upset both influential developers and home owning voters. There is no other reason why, for example, the stamp duty holiday was announced and then even extended at a time when house prices were roaring upwards. We also have to pay for the ridiculous Help to Buy scheme and many more similar programmes which only distort a false market even further.
Unfortunately interest rates will rise sooner or later and when that happens people who have been persuaded by the property industry and egged on by government incentives will suffer.