Putting order in the obscure situation of political party funding cannot come too soon. It has been under discussion without any progress for too long.

Disagreement over the threshold limit should evaporate if the parties truly mean to bring in real positive change. There should be no threshold. Donations, loans or other means of funding to political parties should be abolished and made illegal. Political parties should be forced to return to their core function of being political parties without ownership of media, travel agencies, telecoms or supermarket operators. If such activities are allowed, any agreed discipline on party funding would be defeated through disguise as commercial payments.

If thresholds are allowed, compromising funding simply ducks beneath the threshold using multiple nominee donors.

Abolishing all forms of party funding would mean that state funding becomes their only source. For effective democracy this would be money well invested as political parties are the main tools for execution of effective democracy and state financing ensures that governments are by the people and for the people and not for “generous” donors. State funding would come with oversight by the National Audit Office to ensure its proper application. Through media legislation, parties would have fairly balanced access to the broadcasting, electronic and print media.

Excuses made by the editorial of The Times that it is not the time to consider state funding are false economy. If we have to choose between a financial deficit and a democratic deficit I would clearly choose the former as its costs are clear. The costs of democratic deficit, which eventually feeds into impropriety and corruption, are simply larger and unquantifiable.