Donors gave Tories almost 拢25m in run-up to General Election
Theresa May's party received more than half of the money donated to political parties in the three months before June's poll.
Wednesday 30 August 2017 10:15, UK
More than half of the record amount donated to political parties in the run-up to the General Election went to the Conservatives, new figures reveal.
The Tories took almost £25m from donors from April to June, compared with £9.5m for Labour, the Electoral Commission said.
The donations total of £40.1m was £9.4m more than the previous highest quarter on record, which coincided with the 2015 General Election.
In total, Theresa May's party received £24,840,627 over the three-month period, Jeremy Corbyn's party £9,492,519, the Liberal Democrats £4,358,410 and the Scottish National Party £596,000.
In contrast to 2015, when UKIP received a £1m donation from Arron Banks, the party was less well-funded this time round, receiving just £156,455 in the second quarter of the year.
This was less than the £282,931 donated to the Women's Equality Party and the £176,363 received by the Greens.
Plaid Cymru had donations of just £5,300.
The £40m total was more than £30m higher than the amounts received during the first three months of this year, and reflects the short amount of time the parties had to build up their election war chests once Mrs May made the shock decision to call a snap poll in April.
The decision backfired, with the Conservatives losing their parliamentary majority thanks to a better-than-expected performance from Labour.
The Electoral Commission's director of political finance and regulation, Bob Posner, 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."
The biggest donor during the period was the Unite trade union, which donated £4,165.935 to Labour.
The party also received £1,253,711 from the GMB union, £1,039,794 from the Communication Workers Union, £922,586 from Unison and £411,340 from Usdaw.
Construction vehicle manufacturer JCB was responsible for the Tories' biggest donation of £1.5m.
Mark Bamford, the brother of JCB chairman Lord Bamford, gave Mrs May's party £750,000.
Former Tory treasurer Lord Ashcroft also opened his wallet to contribute to the Conservatives' election war chest, donating £500,000 - his first donation since a gift from his Bearwood company in 2011.
Hedge fund manager John Armitage gave the Tories £1.1m and Addison Lee founder John Griffin paid out £1.033m - the largest gifts yet from the two long-standing party donors.
Meanwhile, John Gore, the theatre producer behind The Book Of Mormon and Phantom Of The Opera, gave the Tories £1m and entrepreneur David Brownlow gave £600,000.
The largest single donor for the Liberal Democrats was entrepreneur Andrew Dixon, who gave the party £305,100.