UK Labour

If you think that NZ Labour is dodgy with its election funding, they are only learning from UK Labour.

As Radio NZ reports Labour has been forced to admit it was secretly loaned 14 million pounds for the last election. That is around NZ$40 million.

The reason Labour does this is to avoid disclosure as donations must be disclosed but loans do not have to be. The difference may be negligible as one can never ask for repayment and have it transferred to a donation upon your death.

Now it gets worse. Three of the loaners, who lent four out of the 14 million pounds have all been offered a Peerage.

Now it is not new that large donors tend to do well with honours, but in the past it has been transparent as one knows the identities of the donors and can judge politically how they feel about them receiving a peerage. But by doing it secretly by having donors do loans instead, one can only conclude the purpose was to hide the connection.