Thread by @WillHayCardiff

Shall we take a look at the serious amounts of private money which is being given to certain Welsh MPs?

Wealthy individuals and groups are pouring their own cash into certain Welsh constituencies and it is important we all know about it.

Let's have look...

[Thread]

Before we look at the MPs receiving all this cash it is worth asking why this is happening.

Normally we see donations made to MPs before elections. They use this to fund their election campaigns.

Typically (but not exclusively) Labour see donations from unions, and the Tories see donations from business people, rich individuals (often with letters like MBE after their name) & political clubs.

I repeat that the vast majority of these donations are made before elections.

But there is no election for years so why are some seats seeing vast amounts of £££ being poured into them?

Let's have a look what these seats have in common...

-- Virginia Crosbie, Conservative - Ynys Mon --

It seems that several people are keen to help the Anglesey MP stay in post with £46,000 of donations given to her in the last year alone.

Of this £20,000 comes from Patrick Evershed, an investment fund manager who was awarded a CBE for public and political service in June 2019.

Another £2,000 came from Goredd Ltd, which appears to be a property company based in a home in Llanfairpwll.

There have also been two donations totaling £17,500 from The Cayzer Trust Company which is wholly owned by members of the Cayzer Family.

This family is historically very wealthy and dominated shipping during the British empire.

The Carlton Club Political Committee also donated £4,500 this year.

The Carlton Club is a members only club in London.

It was the original home of the Conservative Party before the days of Conservative Central Office. According to the club's website: “Today the club continues to uphold these values in its day to day activities”.

Her next donation was £2,000 from Charles McDowell Properties which is an agent for central London properties in Chelsea, Kensington, Knightsbridge, Belgravia, Notting Hill and Holland Park.

So what is she using this cash to do?

Ms Crosbie told WalesOnline she had "already used some of the money" to produce a leaflet about mental health and "fund an annual report" in English and Welsh.

This begs the questions why these fabulously wealthy individuals and property developers are falling over themselves to bankroll a mental health leafleting campaign on Ynys Mon?

Obviously I have no idea on these individuals personal motivations but if their main priority was a mental health leafleting campaign on a Welsh island why would you use an MP as an intermediary?

I would tentatively suggest that they could have additional motivations...

Anglesey is a real marginal seat.

This seat is a three way marginal with Plaid holding it from 1987 to 2001.

Labour then held it from 2001 but in the last election Conservative Virginia Crosbie took it with a majority of just under 2,000.

If, hypothetically, someone wanted to build good relationships with the governing party, donations to help keep marginal seats blue could be considered a worthwhile investment by rich private donors.

There could be a whole range of reasons for these donations.

Personal relationship with the MP, strong belief in the party, ingratiating yourself and your business with powerful people.

Who know what has motivated these donations?

These donors and these MPs are not breaking any rules. We should stress that.

But this REALLY, REALLY deserves our attention.

The fact is, in our "democracy", the richer you are the more impact you have on who has power over your country.

As we have seen throughout the pandemic, proximity to and personal relationships with those in power can lead to a whole range of benefits including easy access to public money and contracts.

Think this is just an isolated incident? Let's have a look at another marginal seat.

-- Dr James Davies, Conservative, Vale of Clwyd --

This seat has bounced between Labour and the Tories for years.
It went red in 1997, then blue in 2015 with Labour reclaiming it in 2017.

Dr James Davies won it back again in 2019 with a majority of under 5%.

In the last year Mr Davies has received £2,500 from IX Wireless Limited based in Preston who have benefitted from UK Government schemes.

They are a telecomms company and according to their website: "2019 saw IX Wireless Limited participate successfully in the UK Government’s Gigabit Voucher Scheme, with ten separate schemes approved in Northern England."

As an MP he has also declared donations including:

- Carlton Club Political Committee donated £2,500 in January 2020

- Association of Conservative Clubs, £2,500, January 2020

- United and Cecil Club, £2,500, January 2020

- United and Cecil Club, £1,000, January 2020

- Jane Dawnay, £2,500 for the purpose of campaigning in the EU referendum, June 2016

- Carlton Club, £5,000, June 2015

- United and Cecil Club, £4,500, June 2015

This stuff matters.

Our electoral system is, in my view, totally exposed to influence by those with money. This is not a trait of a health democracy.

See every Welsh MPs donations here:
walesonline.co.uk/news/wales-new…

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