The Conservative Party has provided the Electoral Commission with details of most of its lenders but has so far been unable to make them all public. For all the media and Labour smears on this, such as Labour chairman Ian McCartney claiming the Conservatives have "something to hide", this is very simply because when the loans were made, legally binding contracts were signed that included confidentiality clauses. At the moment the Conservatives have been desperately asking their lenders to agree to waive the clauses, but they cannot do so voluntarily. That's a legal obligation. It's not even clear if the Conservatives can give the details in confidence to the Electoral Commission without the consent of the lenders, and they are presently seeking advice on this matter. (The ones they have publicly confirmed or passed on in confidence to the Electoral Commission have all clearly consented to this.)
If Not So Very New Labour believe that a binding contract can be ignored for the sake of an easy life then we should all be concerned about what other agreements they will rip up. The next time Labour MPs are offered "concessions" to support legislation they should think long and hard about whether such agreements will be honoured.
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