Political parties hold a privileged position in UK democracy. They are the only groups with the opportunity to form a government. Despite this capacity to inhabit the state, legal scrutiny of political parties in the UK has been limited. The rationale for this approach is compelling, there are risks of turning parties into sites of legal rather than political contestation. On the other hand, without legal scrutiny, there is a risk that if political checks break down, then public power will be monopolised by a single party. This paper offers four proposals to ensure that parties are not able to monopolise the use of public power. First, by increasing transparency by reforming data protection and freedom of information laws. Second, by clarifying in law the ways in which political parties are public bodies. Third, by expanding the powers of the Electoral Commission to ensure democratic contestation. Fourth, by strengthening campaign finance laws. The purpose of these legal checks is not to replace political contestation. The three limits instead create a backstop to ensure that the political mechanisms of the uncodified constitution can prevent the monopolisation of public power.

About the Speaker:

Dr. Leah Trueblood is a Fellow and Tutor in Public Law at Worcester College. She is also a recent British Academy Postdoctoral Fellow at the Bonavero Institute of Human Rights. She originally studied Philosophy at the University of Alberta on a TD Canada Trust National Scholarship. She then undertook a Law degree at the LSE before coming to Oxford for her D.Phil. Her D.Phil was generously supported by the Pierre Elliott Trudeau Foundation.

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