LABOUR has demanded to know how much cash non-dom taxpayer Lord Ashcroft has given to the Tory General Election campaign in the town.MP Chris Mole says voters in Ipswich do not want one party being bankrolled by a man who is not paying his taxes.

Graham Dines

LABOUR has demanded to know how much cash non-dom taxpayer Lord Ashcroft has given to the Tory General Election campaign in the town.

MP Chris Mole says voters in Ipswich do not want one party being bankrolled by a man who is not paying his taxes.

“Ashcroft is also under investigation by the Electoral Commission, which is investigating the over �5 million he has donated to the Conservative Party over recent years,” Mr Mole alleges.

“The Conservative donor had promised to be permanently resident in the UK when he became a Member of the House of Lords in 2000, but argues that permanently resident doesn't mean having to pay all of his taxes in the UK.

”Lord Ashcroft has a strange interpretation of 'permanent resident.' Common sense dictates that to be permanent resident means you pay your taxes in that country, not just when it is convenient to you.”

He challenged Tory candidate Ben Gummer “to be open and honest and let the voters in Ipswich know exactly how much Lord Ashcroft has donated to his campaign, and whether he intends now to give that money back.”

Responding, Mr Gummer said that like all key seats, Labour and the Tories received funding from the centre. “However, the vast majority of our campaign cash has been raised locally.

“Lord Ashcroft's contributions to Ipswich Conservatives are in the public domain. Mr Mole is being disingenuous - three Labour life peers are also non-doms and they donate more to his party than Ashcroft does to the Tories.

Mr Gummer added: “The public is completely fed up of this kind of discussion. I had hoped Mr Mole would want to discuss issues which concern Ipswich voters, such as crime and disorder in the town centre and hospital funding.”