Political Party Conferences, A Party At The Taxpayer"s Expense
Every autumn the major political parties hold annual conferences to discuss agendas, vote on leaders and attempt to boost support, especially in the local area.
The conference often covers issues that they would tackle if in power.
The aim is to demonstrate to voters that they have a coherent plan for a term in office and to generate votes.
The purpose of the existing political party holding a conference is to demonstrate that they also have an ongoing plan should they remain in office.
The problem is that these large scale lobbying events come from the tax payer's wallet and are relatively unnecessary.
From the point of view of the taxpayer, there is no need for a conference to outline a party's plan.
This could be done in a private meeting in any building and no publicity needed but instead each party chooses to hire out a large, expensive venue and televise it.
The cost of hiring a conference venue can be in the region of tens of thousands of pounds a day and that would require a long period of set up for which the party would also be charged.
The venue would also need to be decorated, large party branding would be manufactured and set up at the venue to reinforce the party's presence.
Again, this is unnecessary as everyone knows which party is conferencing if they are attending yet these costs can still spiral into the tens of thousands.
Each of the three major events is televised which is subsidised by particular networks but the party will pay for promotion of the event in a range of media channels.
The idea is to publicise the event as much as possible to gain viewers and potentially voters, for this the parties are willing to really fork out.
One outside cost that is not funded by the party themselves is the cost of policing the event and providing security.
This comes directly from the public sector for which the taxpayer once more bares the burden.
Police, road blocks, snipers and escorts are all involved in ensuring the protection of the politicians and party leaders, this cost would be avoided if the conference was not public.
The cost for this year's conferences to police and security forces ranged from 2 million pounds to 6.
5 million.
The conference often covers issues that they would tackle if in power.
The aim is to demonstrate to voters that they have a coherent plan for a term in office and to generate votes.
The purpose of the existing political party holding a conference is to demonstrate that they also have an ongoing plan should they remain in office.
The problem is that these large scale lobbying events come from the tax payer's wallet and are relatively unnecessary.
From the point of view of the taxpayer, there is no need for a conference to outline a party's plan.
This could be done in a private meeting in any building and no publicity needed but instead each party chooses to hire out a large, expensive venue and televise it.
The cost of hiring a conference venue can be in the region of tens of thousands of pounds a day and that would require a long period of set up for which the party would also be charged.
The venue would also need to be decorated, large party branding would be manufactured and set up at the venue to reinforce the party's presence.
Again, this is unnecessary as everyone knows which party is conferencing if they are attending yet these costs can still spiral into the tens of thousands.
Each of the three major events is televised which is subsidised by particular networks but the party will pay for promotion of the event in a range of media channels.
The idea is to publicise the event as much as possible to gain viewers and potentially voters, for this the parties are willing to really fork out.
One outside cost that is not funded by the party themselves is the cost of policing the event and providing security.
This comes directly from the public sector for which the taxpayer once more bares the burden.
Police, road blocks, snipers and escorts are all involved in ensuring the protection of the politicians and party leaders, this cost would be avoided if the conference was not public.
The cost for this year's conferences to police and security forces ranged from 2 million pounds to 6.
5 million.
Source...