Legislation due on party funding

Jack Straw has announced that the government plans to introduce legislation on party funding as soon as possible.

The justice secretary told MPs on Tuesday that a white paper would be published and new laws introduced as soon as parliamentary time allowed.

He was speaking after the Conservatives attacked the "collapsing" funding of the Labour Party.

"With £18m of Labour Party debt and collapsing income - 90 per cent of which now comes from the trade unions - will this white paper be anything other than a partisan short-term attempt to shore up Labour's empty coffers at taxpayers' expense, while maintaining uncapped union funding?" Tory justice spokesman Jonathan Djanogly asked.

But Straw accused the Opposition of taking a "partisan" approach on the issue.

"Even when we had a very big majority in the 1997-2001 parliament I made sure we proceeded on the basis of a consensus," he said.

"I hope the Conservative Party is not going to adopt the policy which sometimes appears from your pen, suggesting that it is they who should adopt a partisan approach.

"The issue is too important for this and it is very important that no one party believes the regime of party funding should be used for partisan advantage."