Short Money is a grant made available to all opposition parties in the House of Commons that secured either two seats or one seat and more than 150,000 votes at the previous General Election. The scheme has three components:
- Funding to assist an opposition party in carrying out its Parliamentary business
- Funding for the opposition parties’ travel and associated expenses
- Funding for the running costs of the Leader of the Opposition’s office
Policy Development Grants are awarded to help parties in developing policies to include in manifestos for elections to the UK and European Parliaments, the devolved legislatures and local authorities. The total grant is £2 million per year and is distributed via a formula based on representation and performance at national and devolved legislature elections. To be eligible for the grant, a party must have at least two sitting Members of the House of Commons and have taken the oath of allegiance provided by the Parliamentary Oaths Act 1866.
The 2015 Autumn Statement and Spending Review announced proposals to reduce Short Money allocations by 19%, in line with the average savings made from unprotected Whitehall departments, with a similar reduction for Policy Development Grant allocations. On 18 February, the Government launched a consultation on its proposals to reduce short money and Policy Development Grants, this consultation will last until 7 March.