Rich donors have corroded our democracy by turning it into their plaything and undermining the interests of the people. It is time for that to end, argues our Writer at Large

The principle reason for the rotten, deadly mess we find ourselves in today is this: over the decades multimillionaires and latterly billionaires have bought up political parties with their donations and turned government into a corporate plaything which works against the interests of the people.

That’s why some tycoons pay less in tax than their cleaners. In a fair society, capital gains tax would be balanced with income tax so rich and poor shouldered proportionate burdens. That’s just one instance of how the rich pay politicians to stack the odds in their favour. Across the West, trust in politics has collapsed. The people know it’s a con. Sure, we can vote, but the parties we vote for are owned not by us but by their donors. Democracy became a bidding war. Whoever writes the cheques calls the shots on government. That’s why so many voters have turned to the extremes. What other hope is there?

In Britain – in both the national and devolved parliaments – all parties stink of venality. They sell their conscience to the highest bidder, while spinning lies to the electorate. Political donations have slithered back into the spotlight in Scotland. The Easdale brothers, who are billionaires apparently, are dropping a “six-figure donation” on Scottish Labour and its leader Anas Sarwar, as revelaled by The Herald. Sarwar is in the kind of company he understands. The privately-educated son of a millionaire, and Britain’s first Muslim MP Mohammed Sarwar, has enjoyed a gilded life. Labour is compromised from the get-go with this........

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