No favours for party donors, says Labour

Labour yesterday stepped up its defence of cash donations from big business in an attempt to shut down the sleaze allegations that followed the Lakshmi Mittal affair.

The party's general secretary, David Triesman, told the Scottish Labour Conference in Perth that donors did not expect favours in return for cash.

"There are no policies for cash – not for anyone," Mr Triesman said. "That is not the goal of anybody who supports the party in a serious way."

In a separate move, party chairman Charles Clarke signalled a clamp down on sleaze, saying that ministers had to be "absolutely clear" about the background of businessmen who funded the party. "Even if a minister is not aware of the donation nobody is going to believe that, so why not have the whole thing much more transparent?" he said in an interview.

But the row showed no signs of dying down. The Liberal Democrats are now calling on the Government to disclose which ministers had met which businessmen, when and about what. Lib Dem treasury spokesman Matthew Taylor said: "Failure to act may well see the Labour government fall as did the Conservative government before it."

To illustrate their case for state funding of political parties and an end to business donations, Mr Taylor has compiled a dossier of policy changes which directly affect companies that have funded the Labour Party, prompting at least a suggestion of a link.

The dossier includes British Airways and British Midland who have both given money in funding and sponsorship to the Labour party and are on the board of Nats, the air traffic control system, which was part-privatised under Labour.

The Postal Act 2000 brought in liberalisation of the post business and proposals by Postcomm, the regulator, can ultimately be blocked by the Government. One of the companies that stands to gain from liberalisation is American firm UPS, which gave £17,625 to the Labour party in 2001. Betting tax was abolished in 2001 – the same year in which Peter Coates, owner of bet365.com, gave £25,000 through one of his companies.

Mr Taylor said: "So long as political parties are forced to rely on big business for funding, the public suspicion of politicians and government will remain."

In his speech, Mr Triesman said Labour had "quite rightly" won the support of many in the business community because business increasingly shared Labour's aims. "I have not met a single donor to our party who sought personal advantage," he said.