*Companies that make political donations are more than twice as likely to win government contracts and should be banned from working with departments for an entire electoral cycle, according to a key transparency group.*

I second that. Preventing what is effectively a form of corruption is important.

A counterargument is that those who award contracts may have no idea of recent donations to political parties. My response to that is, yes but so what? Preventing what is effectively a form of corruption is important. Making it safe for businesses to donate to political parties is basically harmful.

Indeed, it would be better to prohibit such donations outright.