Letter: Nothing new in doing the decent thing

Sir: 'The way we vote is secret: therefore the donations we may make to party funds should be secret also.' Thus runs an argument we have heard from Conservative Party spokesmen recently. It is superficially plausible, but humbug.

There is a good reason for keeping the vote secret in a democracy. It prevents bribery of the voters, by making it impossible for the briber to verify that a corrupt bargain has been carried out.

Are we to suppose that if the accounts were public, millionaires would be offered bribes to induce them to make donations to political parties?

Sincerely,

CHRIS WALLIS

Winchester,

Hampshire

28 June