01 Dec 2011
Darllenwch y Gymraeg / Read in Welsh
The Electoral Commission – the independent party funding watchdog – has published details of campaign spending of political parties who spent over £250,000 campaigning at the National Assembly for Wales general election in May this year.
One party, the Conservative and Unionist Party, spent over £250,000 campaigning in the run-up to the election, spending a total of £283,269
This figure completes the full picture of spending by parties at the National Assembly of Wales election.
In total 16 parties have reported a combined spend of £869,546 on their campaigns during the regulated period. This ran from 6 January 2011 to polling day on 5 May 2011.
Parties who spent over £250,000 had to submit an audited campaign spending return to the Commission by 5 November 2011.
The 15 parties and 5 third parties who spent £250,000 or less had to submit their spending returns to the Commission in August. These were published on 1 September 2011.
Five third parties reported spending a total of £27,632 during the campaign (see Notes to Editors 5). No third parties spent over £250,000.
Kay Jenkins, Head of the Electoral Commission’s office in Wales, said: “Transparency in the democratic process is hugely important and part of this is ensuring that voters can see how much was spent campaigning at these elections. This information now completes the picture on campaign spending at the National Assembly of Wales elections.”
Campaign spending at National Assembly for Wales General Election 2011
| Party | Expenditure |
| British National Party | £20,141 |
| Christian Party "Proclaiming Christ's Lordship" | £2,480 |
| Communist Party of Britain | £1,905 |
| Conservative and Unionist Party | £283,269* |
| Co-operative Party | £228 |
| English Democrats Party | £2,297 |
| Green Party | £56,944 |
| Labour Party | £153,009 |
| Liberal Democrats | £114,178 |
| Llais Gwynedd - The Voice of Gwynedd | £432 |
| Official Monster Raving Loony Party | £0 |
| Plaid Cymru - The Party of Wales | £173,139 |
| Putting Llanelli First | £2,720 |
| Socialist Labour Party | £3,173 |
| Trade Unionist and Socialist Coalition | £240 |
| UK Independence Party (UK I P) | £55,391 |
| Total | £869,546 |
*Highlighted figures published today. All other figures previously published on 01/09/11. These are provided for context.
In their returns to the Commission, parties reported all spending against one of nine categories. The table below shows spending by category for all 16 parties that have reported spending in Wales.
| Category | Expenditure |
| Party political broadcasts | £105,792 |
| Advertising | £114,217 |
| Unsolicited materials | £469,827 |
| Manifesto and policy documents | £26,428 |
| Market research and canvassing | £52,429 |
| Press conferences/media | £2,080 |
| Transport | £22,779 |
| Rallies and other events | £11,131 |
| Overheads and general administration | £64,864 |
The Commission also published today campaign expenditure returns for parties that spent over £250,000 contesting the Scottish Parliament elections. On Tuesday (29/11/11) we published campaign expenditure returns for campaigners who spent over £250,000 at the UK-wide referendum on the UK Parliamentary voting system. No parties contesting the Northern Ireland Assembly election spent more than £250,000. Figures previously published on 1 September 2011, of parties and third parties who spent £250,000 or less in the Northern Ireland Assembly elections can be found in the press release here www.electoralcommission.org.uk/news-and-media/news-releases/electoral-commission-media-centre/news-releases-donations/Electoral-Commission-publishes-details-of-party-spending-at-Northern-Ireland-Assembly-election-2011
Ends
For more information please contact:
Electoral Commission press office: 02920 346810
Out of office hours: 07789 920 414
Notes to editors
- The Electoral Commission is an independent body set up by the UK Parliament. Our aim is integrity and public confidence in the UK’s democratic process. We regulate party and election finance, set standards for well-run elections and are responsible for the conduct and regulations of referendums held under the Political Parties, Elections and Referendums Act (2000).
- All figures are rounded to the nearest £1
- Earlier this year we published our statutory report on the elections to the National Assembly for Wales. This is available here: www.electoralcommission.org.uk/__data/assets/pdf_file/0012/141330/Final-NAW-report-web.pdf.Next year we will also publish a further short report on campaign spending at the 2011 polls.
- The rules for party expenditure including full details of spending limits can be found on our website at www.electoralcommission.org.uk/elections/election-spending/party-campaign-expenditure
- Third party spending at the National Assembly for Wales general election 2011:
THIRD PARTY EXPENDITURE Labour No to AV £3,529 Public and Commercial Services Union £19,221 Searchlight Information Services Ltd £342 The Campaign to End All Animal Experiments £1,647 Unite Against Facism £2,893 TOTAL £27,632 - Details of third party spending were published in September 2011. A third party is an organisation that campaigns at election time in favour of or against a party, candidate or policy. For further details see www.electoralcommission.org.uk/party-finance/legislation/third-partiespermitted-participants/third-parties
- Further details, including a breakdown of each party’s spending by category, and copies of individual invoices and receipts, are available on the Electoral Commission website at www.electoralcommission.org.uk/party-finance/party-finance-analysis/campaign-expenditure/2011-devolved-elections
- Where returns have not been received by the appropriate deadlines we assess each potential breach in line with our enforcement policy, which can be found at www.electoralcommission.org.uk/__data/assets/pdf_file/0003/106743/Enforcement-Policy-30March11.pdf
- The Commission published details of individual candidates’ expenses on October 17. These are available here: www.electoralcommission.org.uk/party-finance/party-finance-analysis/campaign-expenditure/2011-devolved-elections-candidates-expenses
- Full details of all the spending returns can be found on our website at www.electoralcommission.org.uk/party-finance/party-finance-analysis/campaign-expenditure/2011-devolved-elections
- To view full details of spending down to a return item level, compare headline data with previous elections or extract expenditure information from our database for your own use, please use our PEF Online registers at https://pefonline.electoralcommission.org.uk/search/searchintro.aspx
