Should Labour have taken £4m from hedge fund in a tax haven?
openDemocracy readers share their thoughts on Labour’s largest-ever donation, made days after election was announced
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Re: Labour given £4m from tax haven-based hedge fund with shares in oil and arms
Horse, door, bolted etc.
LINO (Labour In Name Only) and the Tories are no different – both are corrupt to their core, focused on retaining power and seemingly wholly owned by lobbyists and donors. The next big play will be the NHS, likely to be asset-stripped by health secretary Wes Streeting. The problem is systemic and certainly not limited to the UK, most ‘democracies’ function in a similar fashion. Which leaves the question: what can the UK’s serfs do now that LINO are in power for at least five more years?
-Mike Parr
What’s the problem with Labour receiving money? I think trying to figure out who received the Covid billions that are missing would be far more beneficial for the country.
-Martin Cosgrave
People think they have a representative democracy but all these parties are bought and paid for before a vote is cast. The alleged democracy is just window dressing. Until there is wholesale reform and transparency in political funding things will just get worse
-Mildred
Nothing will surprise me anymore when it comes to Sir Keir Starmer! I've said from day one when he got elected as Labour leader on the back of a pack of lies! I don’t think he can be trusted.
-Michael Evans
I am not surprised. However, I do not believe that Labour MPs are an evil bunch. They’re definitely much better than the last lot. Because of our First Past the Post voting system, we are perhaps faced with the lesser of two evils.
In defence of Labour, I have to ask: if they had not taken this money in the run-up to the election, would we be facing another Tory government? Is the Labour Party also a victim of the system? I fear that the attacks on Labour, however accurate and justified, will lead to another Tory government at the next election. The electorate have short memories and short-term plans.
We should not be placed in this position by the system and I cannot propose a solution. We must report the facts, as you have done but I believe that these facts should be reported in a balanced way, within a wider context and a recognition of the negative implications of reporting these facts in isolation.
Thank you for reading this and thank you for the work you do.
-Bill Cooke
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