Conservatives make borrowing arrangements worth 5mln pounds with private bank

London, Feb. 25 (ANI): British Electoral Commission has revealed that the Conservatives are set to borrow a whopping five million pounds from a boutique private bank linked to Jonathan Aitken, a former minister.

The Tories' negotiation with Arbuthnot Latham and Co., the largest sum for any party, coincides with Shadow Chancellor George Osborne's call to reduce Britain's debt.

The agreement to allow the party to borrow the sum if needed at base rate plus 3 per cent was negotiated in November. We are wasting so much money at the moment. Lord Ashcroft is a net vote loser and this is putting us in the hands of people who we shouldn't," The Times quoted one Tory MP, as saying.

The Tories have 4 million pounds in loans and 10.1 million pounds in credit facilities, while Labour has 9.8 million pounds in loans and 6.2 million pounds in credit facilities.

In the last three months of 2009, the Conservatives raised 10.5 million pounds in donations, twice as much as Labour, which raised 4.96 million pounds.

The biggest Tory donors were David Rowland, who gave 738,000 pounds, Stanley Fink and Lord Sainsbury of Preston Candover.

Lord Ashcroft's Bearwood Corporate Services gave 80,987 pounds in sponsorship.

Labour received 1.9 million pounds from the trade unions, including 5,000 pounds from the National Union of Mineworkers, whose leader, Ian Lavery, is expected to be selected to fight ansbeck in Northumberland. (ANI)