Labour now has debts of £21 million. They'd be insolvent already, but the trade unions have almost quadrupled their support of the party over the past half-year. Tribune reports that Labour may be turned into a private limited company to protect officers and national executive members from individual liability if the party is declared insolvent.
David Pitt-Watson, a City financier, abandoned plans to take over as general secretary on the day of the party's catastrophic local election results. Mr Pitt-Watson was supposed to begin his job after this autumn's party conference, when loans to a dozen benefactors had been repaid. But with the party scrabbling to reschedule the loans and unable to ease its debts, he has refused the post altogether. Party sources and friends confirmed that he feared being held personally liable for the debts and that he had failed to gain sufficient reassurance of legal protections from Gordon Brown.
[Labour] needs a further £4 million before the auditors can sign off the books. The auditors will only approve the accounts if they can be assured that the party is a "viable going concern."
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