David Kirwan

The billionaire businessman bankrolling the Tories campaigns in marginal seats like Wirral West will not be able to buy the support of voters, a Prospective Independent MP has declared.

David Kirwan, who is standing in the marginal Wirral West constituency, believes that the news that Lord Ashcroft has not paid tax on his overseas fortune will damage the party’s prospects in marginal seats around the country.

Mr Kirwan said: “Despite all the revelations about sleaze among our politicians, it seems that the Conservatives still think that it is acceptable practice to allow a billionaire donor who refuses to pay tax on a huge part of his fortune to bankroll their desperate scramble for seats.

“Thankfully, the voters of this country are not bought so easily and the Tories will suffer a backlash as a result of the revelations of the last couple of days.

“David Cameron and his Notting Hill and Eton set may consider having someone like Lord Ashcroft bankrolling their campaign to be acceptable, but most voters in this constituency and elsewhere will see it as another example of the arrogant folly of our discredited mainstream parties.

“By standing in Wirral West, I am offering voters a genuine choice. They can either elect another five years of the same old tired politics or they can elect to Parliament a genuinely independent MP who is not beholden to any party political machines.”