Record £40m election donations for political parties

New figures have revealed that political parties in the UK received a record £40.1million in donations in the run up to June’s General Election.

From 1 April 2017 to 30 June 2017, £9.4 million more in reported donations was recorded than the previous highest quarter on record. Over £30 million more in donations were reported than in the first quarter of 2017.

The eleven political parties to report donations accepted were: Conservative and Unionist Party - £24,840,627; Labour Party - £9,492,519; Liberal Democrats - £4,358,410; Scottish National Party (SNP) - £596,000; Women’s Equality Party - £282,931; Green Party - £176,363; UK Independence Party (UKIP) - £156,455; Co-operative Party - £150,980; British National Party - £100,000; The Socialist Party of Great Britain - £26,333; and Plaid Cymru – The Party of Wales - £5,300.

Bob Posner, director of Political Finance and Regulation & Legal Counsel, said: “The snap general election prompted political parties to raise record-breaking sums in the second quarter of 2017. The reporting and publication of this data is key to providing voters with transparency about how political parties financed their general election campaigns. Voters can have confidence that, where parties fail to submit information by a statutory deadline and there is no reasonable explanation, we will take a robust approach in dealing with these breaches.”