RW Tucker (Letters, June 1) can rest assured that Labour Party funding from affiliated trades unions is the most open and fully accountable political funding in Britain today.

Political levies are already subject to regular affirmation ballots and union members wishing to opt-out can do so.

Certainly the links between Labour and the unions are transparent in a way that those between the Conservative Party and big business and hedge funds are not.

Imagine businesses having to regularly ballot their shareholders before being allowed to donate to a political party and shareholders having the right to opt-out of their investment being partly used as a political donation.

Let’s not forget it was only three years ago that Tory treasurer Peter Cruddas was forced to resign after he had offered access to David Cameron and George Osborne in exchange for cash donations to the Tory Party of between £100,000 and £250,000.

Plus there were those cosy intimate suppers offered by Mr and Mrs Cameron at their Downing Street apartment in return for a hefty donation to party funds.

Labour’s links to ordinary working people and their say in the business of the Labour Party at all levels should be celebrated and is a model to be proud of. Certainly political funding in Britain needs a review and some aspects definitely need cleaning up.

However if we were to break with political parties receiving funding from their natural backers then the only other option would be to introduce state funding for all political parties in Britain. I wonder what RW Tucker’s views on that would be?

ANDREW COLES
Branch Chair, Unite, Horspath Road, Oxford