Party financing
SIR – Mr Stokes (Herts Advertiser letters, December 10) should take a good look at the Electoral Commission website where all donations to local parties are logged. On there he will see that none of Lord Ashcroft s money has been used to fund the St Alban
SIR - Mr Stokes (Herts Advertiser letters, December 10) should take a good look at the Electoral Commission website where all donations to local parties are logged.
On there he will see that none of Lord Ashcroft's money has been used to fund the St Albans Conservative Party.
But what he may be surprised to learn is that the Trade Unions have paid �750 to the local Labour Party in the last year, and St Albans Lib Dems accepted a staggering �2,000 donation from a private equity and hedge fund company based in Harrogate, Yorkshire.
Why the Trade Unions should want to fund the Labour Party is pretty obvious. But what asset strippers and financial speculators, based hundreds of miles away in leafy Harrogate, hope to ever gain; have remotely in connection with; or even more worryingly may have been promised in return for their 'grubby' money from St Albans Lib Dems or their "parliamentary hopeful" Mr Walkington raises some deeply troubling questions.
You may also want to watch:
NAME & ADDRESS SUPPLIED
SIR - Mr St John Stokes' letter in last week's Herts Advertiser raises an interesting point about back door state funding of political parties.
Most Read
- 1 May 17: What can open when COVID-19 lockdown rules ease
- 2 Dirty Dancing and The Greatest Showman among St Albans open-air cinema screenings
- 3 Five Guys coming to St Albans
- 4 What are the district's best pub gardens to visit from April 12?
- 5 Author explores city's hidden history
- 6 Mental Health Awareness Week: Easing children’s worries and fears after lockdown
- 7 Council elections: who are St Albans Conservative candidates?
- 8 Whipsnade Zoo to celebrate 90th birthday with fun family activities
- 9 Olympic hopeful Raissa Vickery benefits from 948 Sports Foundation help
- 10 Council elections: who are St Albans Liberal Democrat candidates?
The national press has reported that Liberal Democrat Councillors are required as a condition of their selection to hand over to their party about �1,000 of their council-tax funded allowances. Presumably this pays for party propaganda and campaigning
Interestingly enough, Liberal Democrat controlled councils in Hertfordshire pay their councillors about �1,000 per annum more than the average for the councils run by the other parties.
Thirty-five Liberal Democrat county and district councillors are in the St Albans constituancy (as opposed to eight Conservatives, and five Labour) and are able to bleed out quite a sum!
MATTHEW PECK
Lemsford Road, St Albans
