The following story appeared in the Lancashire Telegraph today, Sunday, 31 May 2009:

A CONTROVERSIAL Conservative donor has given cash for the party’s campaign in Pendle, it has been revealed.

The borough’s Labour MP Gordon Prentice has claimed the Tories were ‘trying to buy’ Pendle with Lord Ashcroft pumping in £250,000.

Conservative candidate for Pendle, Andrew Stephenson, has hit back at the ‘insulting claims’.

But he has revealed that the party was spending ‘£50,000 to £60,000’ a year in the borough — and that Lord Ashcroft was helping to pay for the party's work in Pendle.

Lord Ashcroft’s donations to the Conservative Party have proved controversial as he has declined to say whether he is a resident or pays taxes in the UK.

Labour MPs have regularly asked whether the donations complied with laws banning overseas' donations.

For a company to make donations to a political party it has to be registered in the UK and carry out business here.

Tory chiefs insist Lord Ashcroft’s donations were both "legal and permissible".

In February The Electoral Commission announced it was conducting a formal investigation into the multi-million pound donations made by Bearwood Corporate Services, which millions of pounds of Lord Ashcroft’s donations have come through.

Mr Prentice, in a posting on his website, claimed: “I have long believed that tax exiles should not be allowed to bankroll UK political parties.

“For the past two years a tsunami of Ashcroft money has engulfed my Pendle constituency.

“The Lib Dem peer Tony Greaves, a constituent of mine, estimates that the Conservatives are on course to spend £250,000 here.”

Official Electoral Commission accounts for Pendle Conservatives for 2007, the last year available, showed the organisation spent £56,000 in the constituency.

Mr Stephenson said it would be a similar amount this year.

He added: “The figures quoted by Mr Prentice are completely wrong and I think it is quite insulting to suggest the people of Pendle could be bought by anyone on any issue.

“Altogether we are spending about £50,000 to £60,000 a year in Pendle. That accounts for our office in Nelson, staff costs, supporting our local councillors and our campaigning in the constituency.

“All this just shows how nervous he is about the General Election.”

Mr Stephenson has also defended the role of Lord Ashcroft.

He said all Lord Ashcroft’s donations to the Tories had come through his UK-listed companies.