Brown strikes multi-million pound deal with union to keep cash-strapped
Labour afloat
By Ian Drury
Last updated at 12:54 AM on 28th November 2008
Gordon Brown has thrashed out a multi-million pound 'secret' deal with
the unions to keep afloat cash-strapped Labour.
The Prime Minister has received guarantees from Unite, Britain's biggest
union, that it would save the debt-ridden party from bankruptcy.
The union has already handed over £6.5million since Mr Brown seized
power. Labour currently owes a whopping £15.7million in loans.
Today opposition MPs were stepping up calls for the party to come clean
about any agreement to prevent it going bust.
Labour categorically denied breaching any party funding rules.
Ministers have recently caved in to a series of demands on union wish
lists - including a new top rate of tax and a trial of free meals for
primary schoolchildren.
Francis Maude, the Shadow Cabinet Office Minister, said: 'The public
have a right to know that, if a deal was struck between Unite and the
Labour Party, what were the terms and conditions of any agreement?'
Liberal Democrat Treasury spokesman Lord Oakeshott said: 'If a political
party can only keep going with guarantees from outside backers those
guarantees should be fully and publicly disclosed as loans or donations.
'Even if they are operating a millimetre within the law, Labour are
clearly breaching the spirit of the law.'
Figures released by the Electoral Commission this week revealed Labour
had clawed in more than £5million in private donations between July and
September - outstripping the Conservatives, who received £4million.
The party also converted £2.25million of loans into gifts - £2m from
former science minister Lord Sainsbury and £250,000 from businessman Sir
Gulam Noon.
This helped the party escape the perilous financial crisis that it was
facing in the summer.
It is the first time in almost three years that the Tories have beaten
Labour in the funding stakes.
Labour sources said the party had submitted detailed accounts to
auditors who approached lenders for 'reassurance' that they would
continue funding.
But because funding has not yet been handed over, there is no need for
Labour to report it to the Electoral Commission.
A commission spokesman said: 'Parties must report details of any
donations received or regulated transactions they enter into to the
commission.
'Regulated transactions include any loans or credit facilities entered
into, and that includes transactions connected to those loans.
'Political parties do not have to tell the commission about any future
funding arrangements they have agreed unless they are entered into a
regulated transaction or receiving a donation.'
A Labour Party spokesman said: 'The Labour Party has declared its
accounts, donations, and loans to the Electoral Commission in full
compliance with party finance rules. As they show, there was no question
of the Labour Party going bankrupt.
'While we welcome the unions' support, it would be wrong to suggest that
they are the sole source of the party's funding or that their financial
support in any way gains them any special influence in policy making.'
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Friday, 28 November 2008
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