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<p>Electoral law allows parties to adopt a fundraising strategy that focusses on raising
funds in small amounts. A positive aspect of this is broad engagement of people in
politics.</p><p>Parliament set a threshold of £500, above which donations must be
from permissible sources. This is to limit influence from outside the UK on our elections
and democracy. Below the threshold, sums given to parties and campaigners are not
considered to be donations under law, but recipients still need to satisfy themselves
who is giving these sums. Multiple sums from a single source could aggregate to above
£500 triggering the permissibility rules. This would exclude overseas donors not on
the UK electoral register.</p><p>Parties must have systems in place to comply with
the rules, and the Commission provides advice to parties and campaigners about how
to ensure that they do. If the current law is complied with, there is no reason why
micro funding would result in impermissible donations from overseas donors. However,
if it is considered that confidence in this needs to be improved by more transparency,
the level of the £500 threshold could be lowered by Parliament.</p>
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