Labour’s assault on the taxpayer

Revelations that Labour are not $800,000 in debt but are in fact $1.4 million in debt, means that Labour will later this term try to change the law to force taxpayers to fund Labour and other parties.

They have already put in place a temporary law which allows them to fund their pledge card from their parliamentary budget (the law runs until end of 2007). However this is not enough for them, so their conference has voted for full taxpayer funding.

They also voted for “constraints” on third party advertising. This may turn out to be the most serious challenge to freedom of speech in recent times.