The Conservatives have rejected the suggestion that political parties should be state funded.

In their submission to the Electoral Commission on Friday, the party argues that existing regulations under the Political Parties Elections and Referendums Act have been "broadly successful in meeting the goals it wished to achieve".

Recent controversies concerning political donations have been "a sign of poor standards of conduct within Whitehall and the Labour government, rather than a fundamental problem with the regulation of political parties", it claims.

Funds would be better spent on the public services than on the parties, says the submission.

"We do not support the argument for state funding of political parties," said Conservative chairman Theresa May.

"At a time when the British people are not getting a fair deal in public services, the last thing they want to see is their money going into party coffers.

"A healthy democracy is underpinned by political parties which rely on their own efforts to secure funding and which therefore seek to engage with their members and supporters."

The submission follow comments from Commons leader Peter Hain that such a move could be included in the next Labour Party manifesto.

"Politics needs political parties. Political parties can only run with money," he said.

"Everyone agrees that it is not desirable to have parties relying on big donations from multinational companies, wealthy individuals or even trade unions."

But the Tories' submission to the Commission argued that the state of party finances was an issue for the political parties themselves.

"If political parties find it difficult to raise funds then that is a matter for them," it said.

"A degree of public funding already exists for matters relating to policy development and parliamentary work, but it would be wrong to ask the taxpayer to fund political campaigning also, at a cost of tens of millions of pounds."