News releases

The financial accounts of UK political parties with income and expenditure of £250,000 or less for the year ending 31 December 2007 have been published today by the Electoral Commission.

Party income and expenditure

The accounts show that 227 parties have reported gross income and total expenditure of £250,000 or less. The combined gross income reported by these parties was £1,832,676, and the combined total expenditure by these parties was £2,042,300

Of the 227 parties:

• 210 political parties have reported spending of between £0 and £25,000.
• Nine parties have reported spending between £25,000 and £100,000
• Eight parties have reported spending between £100,000 and £250,000. These parties are:
• • Alliance - Alliance party of Northern Ireland
  • Communist Party of Britain
  • Progressive Unionist Parrty of Northern Ireland
  • Respect - The Unity Coalition
  • Scottish Green Party
  • Scottish Voice
  • New Party
  • Solidarity - Scotland'd Socialist Movement

Accounting unit income and expenditure

Political parties may register accounting units with The Electoral Commission. An accounting unit is a constituent or affiliated organisation of a political party and is responsible for its own financial affairs and transactions.

474 accounting units have reported gross income or total expenditure of between £25,000 and £250,000. The combined gross income of these accounting units was £28,475,859 and the combined total expenditure of these units was £27,264,367.

Late submissions

There are 20 parties and three accounting units that have submitted their accounts to the Commission late. They have been notified that civil penalties will be imposed.

106 parties have yet to submit their accounts to the Commission, although this includes parties with expenditure or income of over £250,000. In the case of these larger parties the deadline for submission to the Commission is 7July.

Full details are available at www.electoralcommission.org.uk.

Lisa Klein, Director of Party and Election Finance at the Electoral Commission said:

 “Transparency of party finance is vital to the integrity of the democratic process.

“In future The Electoral Commission intends to specify the format and content of party accounts and will be consulting with political parties on this matter over the coming months. This will ensure consistency and will allow for easier comparison between parties.

 “We are disappointed to see that some parties have not returned their accounts to us within the deadline. The late submission of accounts is a serious matter and where parties have failed to meet the statutory deadline we will be imposing civil penalties.”

Parties with income or expenditure over £250,000 are required to submit their statements to the Commission by 7 July 2008 and these accounts will be published in August 2008.

The Commission is currently scrutinising all the submitted accounts and will raise any issues with the parties.

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For further information please contact

Electoral Commission press office on 020 7271 0704

email: press@electoralcommission.org.uk

outside office hours 07789 920414

Notes to editors

1.  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 and set standards for well-run elections.

2.  The Political Parties Elections and Referendums Act 2000 requires that parties with a gross income and expenditure of £250,000 or less (and their accounting units with a gross income or expenditure in excess of £25,000 and below £250,000) submit an annual statement of accounts to The Electoral Commission by 30 April and for more than that sum by 7 July.

3.  There are 388 political parties registered with The Electoral Commission at the end of 2007.

4.  The figures in this news release have been rounded up to the nearest whole pound. The exact figures for the expenditure are available on our website.

5.  Accounting units with income and expenditure that are both under £25,000 are not required to submit their accounts.

6.  In exceptional circumstances PPERA allows for parties to request an extension to submit their accounts prior to the submission date. Three parties have been granted such an extension, they are:

a. Animals Count

b. English Democrats

c. People’s Voice

7.  The fact that a Statement of Accounts has been placed on the Commission’s website should not necessarily be taken to indicate that the Electoral Commission has verified or validated it in any way.

8.  The accounts published on the Commission’s website today are only those that were received on time from the political parties. Those accounts that were submitted late will be published at a later date.