Loans and donations should be treated identically - Liberal Democrats propose amendment

3.40.00am UTC (GMT +0000) Fri 24th Mar 2006

Loans and donations should be treated identically - Liberal Democrats propose amendment

Liberal Democrat Peer, Lord Goodhart, yesterday proposed an amendment to the Electoral Administration Bill, during Committee stage in the House of Lords, which would cause all loans to political parties to be treated as donations. Following a short debate he withdrew the amendment in anticipation of a fuller debate at Report stage, when the Government have promised to bring forward amendments of their own. Lord Goodhat said "If we are to overcome public contempt for Politics and Politicians, we must show that we are taking effective steps to block sleaze and to secure full transparency. There is a crisis in our political system. The first step to ending it is to require those who give financial aid to political parties to disclose it."