A FORMER Labour MP who lost his seat in last year's General Election yesterday demanded a change in electoral rules to stop rich individuals from "buying up" seats in the House of Commons.
Peter Bradley lost his seat of The Wrekin in Shropshire after his Tory opponent received ten times as much in donations as he did ahead of last year's campaign.
His seat was one of 93 marginals targeted by three major Tory donors who gave a total of £1.3m direct to constituency associations during the last Parliament, rather than funnelling it through the party's national organisation.
According to analysis by Mr Bradley, some 24 of the Tories' 36 gains in May 2005 were in constituencies funded by former Conservative treasurer Lord Ashcroft, Liverpool-based Lord Steinberg, chairman of Stanley leisure, and car importer Robert Edmiston.
Mr Bradley called for a law to apply legal caps, which vary depending on the size of the constituency, throughout the electoral cycle.
A Conservative spokesman said: "The fact that Conservative constituency associations ran effective campaigns in battleground seats is a sign of successful campaigning, not that rules were broken."
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