Belize queries Ashcroft income

The Christian Workers Union (CWU) , an affiliate of the International Trade Union Confederation, asked British sister union the GMB to ascertain whether any of the £6m that Lord Ashcroft has pumped into the Tory election campaign in marginal seats has been sucked out of Belize.

CWU general secretary Antonio Gonzalez said: "We know that Lord Ashcroft has a lot of business interests in Belize and there is every likelihood that some of his personal fortune comes from these investments.

"We would be very surprised to hear that he is using money made in Belize for political reasons in the UK," Mr Gonzalez declared.

He said that money made in Belize should be reinvested there.

"Belize is a developing country and needs all the genuine investment it can get," Mr Gonzalez observed.

The GMB, which pointed out that there was no evidence that Lord Ashcroft's £6m handout was made from taxable income in Britain, challenged the Tory peer and Tory leader David Cameron to come clean and say how much of it derived from the exploitation of Belizean workers.

GMB general secretary Paul Kenny said that his union agrees "with the Belize workers who say that money made in Belize should be reinvested there."