The man heading the enquiry into party funding has suggested there should be a thousand pound ceiling on anonymous political donations.

Lord Neill's ideas still have to be approved by the committee

Lord Neill, chairman of the Committee on Standards in Public Life, makes the suggestions in an interview with BBC Radio 4's 'In Committee' programme on Sunday night.

His suggestions are much stronger than those already proposed by politicians.

Labour's manifesto proposed that all donations over £5,000 should be publicly disclosed, a policy the Conservative party has said it could accept.

But Lord Neill may find that opposition to his proposals starts within his own committee.

The Conservative MP and former Cabinet member, John MacGregor, who is now a Committee member, has already stressed that the suggestions are Lord Neill's own views, and the committee has yet to debate them.

Lord Neill also wants to outlaw the blind trusts used by Mr Blair and other senior Labour figures when in opposition to fund their offices through anonymous donations.

The blind trust used by Tony Blair to fund his opposition office would be banned

Political parties, like individual parliamentary candidates, could even have strict limits placed on the amount they can spend. And Lord Neill wants an electoral commissioner to police the new rules.

"I think probably you end by having to have somebody in place whose job it is to supervise," he said.

"But if you believe that the limit is important, then you have to put your money there to make sure it operates and isn't a hollow farce," he told the programme.

Lord Neill's proposals go much further than ministers expected and though they will only take the form of recommendations, the BBC's Westminster correspondent says it could prove politically difficult for the government to reject the findings of an inquiry it set up.

Members of Lord Neill's committee are shortly to tour Germany, Sweden, the US and Canada on a factfinding mission. In Canada, all donations above 200 Canadian dollars must be declared.

Lord Neill's committee is due to report in the summer. The government will delay bringing in new legislation until the committee has reported.
 

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