On balance...

Having just had the budget, and seen that UK plc is going even further into the red (and that's with PFI funding and Northern Rock excluded), I thought I might check on how UK democracy plc is doing.

A little googling, and I soon found that the Electoral Commission has a "Statement of Accounts" page, listing every political party registered in the UK.

A look at a few of these turned up some illuminating results. At the end of 2006, the following was the league table:

Party	£
LibDem	1,514,460
Green	171,000
Loonies	1,245
Respect	(12,045)
Cons	(9,011,000)
Lab	(24,863,000)

(Loonies = Official Monster Raving Looney Party, if you hadn't guessed!)

Mmm... Does this really mean that the Official Monster Raving Looney Party would be better at balancing the books, or just that they can't promise someone a peerage in exchange for the loan of the odd million quid!

It's alright guv... we're good for it... you can trust us.

I don't think so!