Labour raise record 拢56m in a year - almost 拢10m more than Tories
According to official figures, Jeremy Corbyn's party earned almost 拢10m more than the Conservatives in 2017.
Wednesday 22 August 2018 15:01, UK
Labour raised a record amount for a political party last year by raking in nearly 拢56m in the space of 12 months.
According to official figures, Jeremy Corbyn's party had an income of £55.79m in 2017, with the Conservatives raising almost £10m less at £45.95m.
Both major parties spent slightly less than the amount they raised, with Labour having an expenditure of £54.34m and the Tories £44.87m.
Labour's and the Conservative's income made up the majority of the total £125.32m raised by the ten parties who reported a gross income or total expenditure of more than £250,000.
At last year's snap general election, which took place within the accounting period, the two biggest parties took more than 80% of the vote share.
Over the same period, the Liberal Democrats had an income of £9.71m, the SNP raised £5.8m, the Greens a total of £2.47m, while UKIP earned £1.74m.
In Northern Ireland, Sinn Fein raised just over £1m and the DUP earned £510,362 in 2017.
Labour's financial statement for 2017, published by the Electoral Commission on Wednesday, also revealed the party had 564,443 members at the end of December 2017, up from 543,654 the year before.
This continues the large increase in membership under Mr Corbyn and allowed the party to earn £16.17m from its members in 2017, up from £14.39m over the previous 12 months.
Donations counted for £18.26m of Labour's income in the period, which previous figures have shown was dominated by sums from trade unions.
By contrast, the Tories earned just £835,000 from membership fees in 2017, a fall from £1.46m the year before.
The party's income from legacy giving - at £1.67m in 2017, up from £301,000 in 2016 - was almost double the amount earned through membership fees.
Tory insiders pointed to a large increase in the number of people joining the party centrally in 2016, as opposed to via their local constituency, as a reason for the fall in membership income in 2017.
When a member joins the party centrally, the party owes a local association £20. This means the central party owed an unusual amount to local associations from 2016, which was offset in the Tories' 2017 membership income figures.
Indeed, the Tories' income from membership fees in 2017 is more in line with earlier years than the 2016 figure.
Conservative chairman Brandon Lewis recently revealed the party's membership now stands at 124,000.
The Tories raised £34.25m from donations in 2017, up from £18.68m in 2016.
Commenting on the figures published by the Electoral Commission, a Labour spokesperson said: "Unlike the Tories who rely on a few super-rich donors to bankroll them, we're proud to be powered by small donations from hundreds of thousands of people across the country."