Tories outstrip Labour on party donations » Central Government » 24dash.com

Donations to the Conservative Party are continuing to outstrip those to Labour ahead of the next general election, according to the latest update from the Electoral Commission today.

The Tories received £5,269,186 in the third quarter of 2009 - between July and September - while Labour was gifted just £3,045,377. The Liberal Democrats were given £816,663.

Overall, donations to political donations for the quarter stood at slightly more than £9.5 million.

That was down on the £13.2 million received between April and June, although that figure was higher than usual because of the European elections in May.

The majority of Labour's donations - £2,397,573 - came from trade unions, £202,557 was from individuals and £194,543 from companies.

Labour's biggest donors were Unison (£760,825), and Unite's Amicus (£601,053) and TGWU (£305,150) sections.

The Tories raised £3,236,828 from individual donors, including £252,000 from hedge fund manager Michael Farmer, £250,000 from engineering tycoon Jeffrey Whaley and £223,000 from property developer David Rowland.

Another £1,635,127 of the Tories' donations came from companies, including £250,000 from IM Properties.

Meanwhile, Labour's debts stood at £9,768,122 at the end of September compared with Tory loans totalling £4,153,939.

Labour increased its credit facilities by £2 million to £6,209,000 in the third quarter. The Tories increased theirs by £10,000, taking them to £5,151,500.

The Lib Dems had outstanding loans of £337,185 and credit facilities worth £1,061,000.

Their biggest donor was the Joseph Rowntree Reform Trust, which gave £230,833.

Peter Wardle, chief executive of the Electoral Commission, raised long-standing concerns about the late reporting of donations, particularly among the local accounting units.

The Conservative Party's was the only central office to declare a donation - worth £8,500 - outside the legal timeframe set by the Political Parties, Elections and Referendums Act 2000.

But almost £120,000 was reported late by local associations of the different parties, including £49,099 from the UK Independence Party, £30,615 from the Lib Dems, £30,123 from the Green Party, £6,153 from Labour and £3,000 from the Tories.

"We understand pressures on volunteers at local party levels, but it's important for public confidence that there is transparency in party funding," Mr Wardle said.

"As the general election approaches, voters will be especially interested in how the political parties are funded and it's important all the information is available to them in a timely manner."