TORBAY Tory Parliamentary hopeful Marcus Wood has benefited from the general election war-chest bankrolled by billionaire peer Lord Ashcroft.

The prospective parliamentary candidate (pictured above) has used 'tens of thousands of pounds' from the target seat campaign fund to pay for a survey, canvassing and newsletters sent to households in the Bay.

The fund is the brainchild of Lord Ashcroft, the peer and Conservative Party deputy chairman embroiled in controversy for holding a senior party role while not paying tax on his overseas earnings.

Mr Wood confirmed: "We are one of the seats in the target seat campaign who did get money.

"I don't know the exact amount, but it is all in the public domain. I would say it was in the tens of thousands for the whole parliament (from 2005 to 2010).

"Last year we had a newspaper, we got a contribution to the wraparound in the Weekender newspaper (published by the Herald Express) in January and it would have been for things like that. There was also a survey this time last year."

And published accounts for Teignbridge Conservative Association also show in 2005 the party received war-chest funds of £25,000 for Stanley Johnson's failed election campaign.

A spokesman for prospective candidate Anne-Marie Morris said: "Newton Abbot Conservatives do not receive any funding directly from Lord Ashcroft. We do receive some financial support from our central office, however the overwhelming majority of the funds we raise and spend on local campaigning are raised through local fund raising activities and events and modest donations from our members and supporters."

Mr Wood is one of dozens of candidates across the country who have tapped into funds targeted at key 'battleground' marginal seats at this upcoming election.

There is no suggestion he has acted improperly in any way by using the money, which is managed by a committee at Tory HQ chaired by the peer.

But political opponents have criticised him for benefiting from funds which could have gone to the Inland Revenue.

One political opponent claims Torbay now resembles a 'rotten borough' where seats fall into the lap of the party 'with the biggest pockets'.

Mr Wood emphasised the money has not come directly from Ashcroft or his company, Bearwood Corporate Services, but from Tory HQ.

He said: "My campaign in this parliament has received no funding from Lord Ashcroft or from Bearwood Corporate Services.

"Conservative campaign headquarters offers financial support to candidates in marginal seats from a central fund, drawn from donations to the Conservative Party by thousands of individuals. Bearwood has contributed a tiny fraction of this fund."

Bearwood made a total of 173 donations to the Tories totalling £5.1million between February 2003 and December 2009.

Mr Wood said Lord Ashcroft had set up the system to 'level the playing field' with sitting MPs who benefit from an parliamentary fighting fund of £10,400.

He said: "It's the worst kind of political story. He (Ashcroft) hasn't broke any laws. He pays his tax in this country and pays his taxes in those foreign countries where he works."

All of the Torbay Conservative Association's accounts are available online.

The most recent for 2008 shows the target seat grant from central office was £9,498. In 2007 it was £2,165. Mr Wood says the figure for the whole parliament is higher.

Adrian Sanders MP for Torbay said: "All of my campaign costs, every penny, is raised locally from UK taxpayers whereas half of the costs of the Tory campaign in 2005 were from Bearwood.

"Whether they would have been able to have spent so much without Lord Ashcroft's money is another matter. We have literally hundreds of local people funding our campaign who can hold me to account and I would rather have them than one non-dom who spends a lot of his time in Belize."

Labour candidate David Pedrick-Friend said: "I have an election fund of £1,400 and I have to work within that. What's unfair is that thousands of pounds have come into Marcus to do things from somebody who hasn't been paying UK tax on his worldwide earnings.

"It's like the rotten boroughs of years ago when the person with the biggest pocket who have never been elected is winning seats."