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Added a note on their funding by a criminal
The most realistic chance of power for the party is to be part of a coalition government in a hung parliament, and they always state their terms for such an event at General elections. This has always included introducing [[proportional representation]] for elections, and their terms for the 2009/10 election include: to reform government by capping private donations, reducing the number of MPs, having a 100% elected [[House of Lords]] (it is currently made of bishops, party appointees, and hereditary peers), and having a written [[constitution]] and a [[Bill of Rights]], as current UK constitutional law is confusingly spread out over parts of several legal documents.<ref>http://www.guardian.co.uk/politics/2008/mar/10/liberaldemocrats.nickclegg Clegg's terms for deal in hung parliament</ref>
The most realistic chance of power for the party is to be part of a coalition government in a hung parliament, and they always state their terms for such an event at General elections. This has always included introducing [[proportional representation]] for elections, and their terms for the 2009/10 election include: to reform government by capping private donations, reducing the number of MPs, having a 100% elected [[House of Lords]] (it is currently made of bishops, party appointees, and hereditary peers), and having a written [[constitution]] and a [[Bill of Rights]], as current UK constitutional law is confusingly spread out over parts of several legal documents.<ref>http://www.guardian.co.uk/politics/2008/mar/10/liberaldemocrats.nickclegg Clegg's terms for deal in hung parliament</ref>
==Funding==
The party is poorly funded in comparison to its main rivals, leading to them accepting money from almost any source.
Their largest ever donor is convicted fraudster Michael Brown<ref>[http://www.timesonline.co.uk/tol/news/uk/crime/article4424450.ece Arrest warrant issued after Liberal Democrat donor Michael Brown skips bail], TimesOnline, July 30, 2008</ref>, a former bonds dealer who was convicted of stealing £30 million from his clients, who donated £2.4 million to the party.<ref>[http://www.timesonline.co.uk/tol/news/uk/crime/article5252726.ece Lib Dems face repaying £2.4m after Michael Brown, party's biggest donor, convicted], TimeOnline, November 29, 2008</ref><ref>[http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/uk/7754234.stm Top Lib Dem donor stole millions], BBC, November 28 2008</ref>. They managed to avoid repaying the money after exploiting a technicality in the rules after a year long battle. <ref>[http://www.electoralcommission.org.uk/news-and-media/news-releases/electoral-commission-media-centre/news-releases-donations/donations-by-5th-avenue-partners-limited-to-the-liberal-democrats-statementreindex1 Donations by 5th Avenue Partners Limited to the Liberal Democrats: statement], November 20, 2009</ref>
==References==
==References==