General election: Tories earn nearly 26 times more than Labour in reportable donations
More than 拢8 out of every 拢10 donated to political parties and reported to the Electoral Commission went to the Conservatives.
Thursday 21 November 2019 17:25, UK
The Conservatives received more than 拢5.6m in reportable donations in the first six days of the general election campaign - compared with Labour's 拢218,500.
The Electoral Commission has published details of all donations to political parties worth more than £7,500 between 6-12 November.
Boris Johnson's Tories boosted their campaign funds by £5,573,646 through such donations during this period, the figures show.
This is nearly 26 times the sum Labour received in reportable donations, with Jeremy Corbyn's party having earned less through such means than both the Liberal Democrats (£275,000) and Brexit Party (£250,000).
The Green Party received £30,000, according to the first pre-poll report published by the Electoral Commission.
Political parties have to register all donations worth more than £7,500, which are then published by the Electoral Commission in weekly reports during an election campaign.
Donations smaller than this amount do not need to be reported by parties.
Thursday's figures, for the first reporting period of the general election, reveal the UK's political parties received a total of £6,507,146.
It means more than £8 out of every £10 donated to political parties and reported to the Electoral Commission was given to the Tories.
In the first pre-poll report before the 2017 general election, £7,054,844 was donated to political parties.
The largest donation to the Tories was from theatre producer John Gore, who gave £1m to the party.
Michael Gooley, a long-time Conservative donor, used his travel agent firm Trailfinders to donate £500,000.
Property developer Tony Gallagher, who hosted ex-prime minister David Cameron's 50th birthday party at his Oxfordshire mansion in 2016, gave the Tories £500,000 through his Countrywide Developments firm.
Lubov Chernukhin, the wife of former Russian deputy finance minister Vladimir Chernukhin, gave the party £200,000.
Labour received 12 donations worth more than £7,500 between 6-12 November, half of which were from trade unions.
Unite were the largest donors, giving the party a total of £105,000.
Catherine McLeod, a former special adviser to Alistair Darling when he was chancellor, gave Labour £10,000.
Harold Immanuel, who stood against Labour in the Brent East parliamentary by-election in 2003 in protest against military action in Iraq, also donated the same amount to the party.
Investment firm Attestor Services handed the Liberal Democrats £75,000, while fund manager Davide Serra donated £60,000 to Jo Swinson's party.
The Brexit Party received just one single donation worth more than £7,500 in the period, a £250,000 sum from City financier Jeremy Hosking.
He has previously donated to the Tories.
Earlier this month, Labour revealed it had received small donations totalling £1m in the 10 days since the general election was called.
The party said the average donation was £26 and claimed it had raised in just two days almost as much as it did in the first two weeks of the 2017 election campaign.
Commenting on the Electoral Commission figures published on Thursday, Labour chairman Ian Lavery said: "While the Conservative party is in the pockets of vested interests and the super-rich, we are proud that that the Labour Party is funded by hundreds of thousands of people donating what they can afford to build a fairer society.
"Labour is on the side of the people and the Tories are on the side of the billionaires."
The 12 December poll is the first general election to take place since laws were introduced to allow information on donations and loans in Northern Ireland to be published.
The Alliance Party received £60,000 in donations worth more than £7,500 in the first six days of the campaign.
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