Bankruptcy matters

It is illegal to be a member of a parliament if you are an undischarged bankrupt. And so it should be. If the creditors of the Labour party were to club together and file for payment, quick and simple through the County courts, it would be declared bankrupt, according to all those in the know. Peter Watt said this morning, 17th January 2010, that it is the Labour Executive that would be liable but I believe it is the party treasurer and the party leader who are personally liable - and I suspect all those supplying goods and services to any political party believe so too. No credit controller would extend credit to a committee of people who might resign and leave the debt hanging and without a home base.

This point needs to be clarified, not only on behalf of all financial services who think they know the law of liability but for the actual organisations owed money and who must now declare to their shareholders that there are debts that might be written off, directly hitting profits, wages, salaries and company pensions. Labour’s credit rating should be published on the day the election is called so that voters can see in black and white what sort of organisation they are being asked to put their trust in.

Further, if the Labour Party plc were to be declared bankrupt then the party treasurer and the party leader would then be liable for debts in excess of, what is it now, £20m? We should be told precisely what the figure is before we go to the polls for the reasons outlined above.

I doubt even Gordon Brown and his wife could have amassed sums that huge while he was doing politics so he would be declared bankrupt, his assets and incomes sequestered – and he would be barred from accepting a seat in the House of Lords if it were to be offered.

This country needs to know and needs to know well in advance of a general election – are we being asked to re-elect to the position of Her Majesty’s Prime Minister in charge of this country’s credit rating a prospective bankrupt? Are we being asked to elect to control of this nation’s finances a party that failed to control its own?