"Lord Ashcroft revelations show need for wholesale reform" Dr Steve Goddard

11.48.00am GMT Tue 2nd Mar 2010

Oxford East Liberal Democrat parliamentary candidate, Dr Steve Goddard, today called for wholesale reform of our political system. Steve said "The unsurprising statement from top Conservative donor Lord Ashcroft that he does not pay full taxes in Britain shows something rotten at the heart of our politics. Lord Ashcroft has been ploughing money into constituencies around the country to effectively buy the election, yet he can't even be bothered to pay his contribution to the country. There is something deeply wrong with this."

"Our politics should not be for sale. We must reform political funding, as the Liberal Democrats have long suggested, to have both caps on individual donations and spending limits. Labour and the Conservatives have blocked this time and again, despite all the funding scandals over the last few years. They are clearly scared to lose their financial advantage. When your election results depend on the quantity of advertising you can buy and not your ideas and policies then our politics is failing.

"The Liberal Democrats are determined to change our system. We need reform of funding, which Labour and the Conservatives have blocked. We need a complete overhaul of the expenses system, which the Liberal Democrats have been calling for over a number of years, only to be blocked by Labour and the Conservatives. Now, even after the expenses scandal, they are still dragging their heels. We need to reform our electoral system to make sure every vote will count. Only by shaking up our politics to make it fairer, more transparent, and less reliant on big money from people who think they don't have to abide by the same rules as the rest of us can we even begin to restore trust in politics. Time is running out, we need reform now."