Labour close to bankruptcy - why is the co-op bank helping them?

Thanks to a tweet this morning from GetLabourOut I went on to read their blog post, Labour – Mismanaging Even Their Own Finances which in turn pushed me to read the piece in the Guardian titled John Prescott: Labour 'on the verge of bankruptcy' which in turn provided me with more information to write the following blog post.

I know the topic of the funding of political parties is an emotive topic for many members of the public.  Whether political parties receive state funding or not?  Should unions and big business continue to bank roll Labour and the Conservatives? Should cash in brown envelopes or legitimate donations receive favours in return?

But a political party being on the verge of bankruptcy is another area of conversation completely, especially given the political party we are talking about is Labour, the party that governed Britain for thirteen years and during the major banking crisis.

According to the former Deputy Prime Minister (a position now held by Lib Dem leader, Nick Clegg) John Prescott speaking to The Guardian on Thursday, said:

"The Labour party stands on the verge of bankruptcy. We are more than £20m in debt, facing a long-term decline in membership and a crisis in funding."

Now, for a senior Labour politician to admit this is one thing, but John Prescott, sorry Baron Prescott of Kingston upon Hull, is currently campaigning to become the Treasurer of the said close to bankruptcy Labour Party.

The Labour Party governed the UK for 13 years and during the biggest banking crisis ever seen.

That banking crisis has led to banks closing the doors on small and medium businesses, rather than supporting and helping them at this crucial time.

Day after day we continue to hear politicians telling us that another small business in their constituency has unfortunately closed down putting more people onto the unemployment register - never a pleasant thing to face, trust me, I have been there.

Thankfully now that Liberal Democrats are in Government the topic of banking reform is high on the agenda and being acted on by Vince Cable MP, a real pity that Labour's Alistair Darling didn't do anything when he had the chance.

However, reading John Prescott's interview, one thing really stood out for me.  In the second paragraph, Baron Prescott said:

"We are only kept alive by the Herculean work of party staff and volunteers, trade union contributions, high value donations and the goodwill of the Co-op bank."

It's the final five words that caught my eye - goodwill of the Co-op bank - do you see my connection here now?

Here we have a bank that is happy to show goodwill to a political party £20 million in debt and yet the banks collectively are still failing our small businesses by not supporting them and offering loans to these companies to help them through this delicate time.

Thankfully the Labour Party is no longer in Government and therefore no longer mismanaging the finances of the whole country (just their own party's finances).

Let us hope though that any small or medium business customers of the Co-op bank needing help at this time receive the very same goodwill they apparently are showing the Labour Party.