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The Prosser Perspective.... a weekly column from Dover and Deal MP Gwyn Prosser

6 December 2007

At my last two street stalls in Dover and in Deal constituents talked to me about all sorts of things including tax credits, the cost of petrol, the council’s plans to hike up parking charges plus a lot more – and two people raised the vexed issue of political party fund raising.

It was a bit surprising though somewhat reassuring that so few raised the issue because in the Westminster Village, party funding has been the subject of ferocious debate and not a little mud slinging.

There’s no denying that the third-party funding of the Labour was wholly wrong. It broke our own rules and worse of all it broke the laws that this Labour Government introduced in our attempt to clean up politics after all the past abuses which occurred during the Tory Years.

Within hours of learning of the breach, the Prime Minister removed the General Secretary, he set up an internal inquiry and he called in the Electoral Commission and the police to help get to the bottom of the affair.

Now that these inquiries are under way he’s taking further measures. At his speech to Labour’s National Policy Forum this weekend, Gordon Brown said “It is now time to act on party funding, one area where reform can modernise our public realm is in encouraging greater participation in our democracy - and, as we said we would do in the Queen's speech, reform party finance and expenditure”

Jack Straw has been examining detailed proposals for reform for some time and the latest problems show why it is right not to delay, and it is now time to act. The disclosure that some contributions to the Labour Party had been made in violation of reporting requirements has shocked and saddened all of us and it’s worrying to learn that this has been happening for some time. We are right to be angry when standards fall below what we and the general public want to see and should expect.

Where there is deliberate abuse, it corrodes confidence in the very idea of public service and that’s why I’m glad the Party has acted so swiftly. We are determined to get the facts on the table, without fear or favour and everyone in the Party will cooperate fully with the electoral commission and the official investigation.

In the light of the events of the last week, coming on top of the difficulties all parties have experienced in recent years, we have learned just how easily trust in our politics can be eroded and how important it is that the highest standards are maintained.

The last couple of weeks has shown the need for immediate change within our Party but it has also shown the need for broader change within our system of political funding. Disclosure of information is important because the public have a right to know. As the Prime Minister put it last week: “Openness is indeed the best guide, transparency the best system, sunlight the best solution”