Buried as item 5 or 6 on yesterday’s news was the story about the collapse of talks on the future of party funding. Stemming from the cash for honours scandal and the ever increasing costs of electioneering, the talks were designed to increase transparency and accountability. Both great virtues, both lacking from the public perception of politics.
It is a real shame that the parties have (again) put short-term gain before the public interest, and the talks have collapsed. How refreshing would it have been to have had a good news political story where transparency and accountability triumphed over party political interest. All the parties are now spinning their way out of the problem, and the blame game has begun.
Whatever the truth about whose responsibility the break-down in communications was, the victim is democracy, and the costs - financial and democratic - will be borne by the electorate. Whether they know it, or indeed care, is a whole other issue.
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