News releases

Financial accounts for smaller political parties published

27 May 2010

The financial accounts of UK political parties with income and expenditure of £250,000 or less for the year ending 31 December 2009 have been published today by the Electoral Commission, the independent elections watchdog. Those parties with income or expenditure of over £250,000 are due to be published at the end of July.

Party income and expenditure

The accounts show that 289 parties, many of which fielded candidates at the elections on 6 May, reported gross income and total expenditure of £250,000 or less.

Of the 289 parties:

266 political parties reported gross income and total expenditure of up to £25,000
18 parties reported gross income and total expenditure between £25,000 and £100,000
Five parties reported gross income and total expenditure between £100,000 and £250,000. These parties are:

Alliance - Alliance Party of Northern Ireland
Communist Party of Great Britain
The Conservative And Unionist Party (Northern Ireland)
Pro Democracy: Libertas.eu
Progressive Unionist Party of Northern Ireland

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. Accounting units whose gross income and total expenditure are both below £25,000 do not have to submit accounts.

There were 499 accounting units reporting gross income or total expenditure of between £25,000 and £250,000.

Full details of the small statements of accounts are available here.

Late submissions

Thirteen parties and one accounting unit submitted their accounts to the Commission late, 38 parties have yet to submit their accounts to the Commission. The Commission will issue a penalty to the parties and accounting units which have reported late.

A further 15 parties are expected to submit by the deadline of 7 July, which is the date when parties with gross income or total expenditure of over £250,000 are required to submit to us. These are due to be published at the end of July.

Peter Wardle, Chief Executive of the Electoral Commission said:

“Public trust in democracy depends on transparency about where parties get their money from and how they spend it. Part of our job is to make sure this information is clearly available to people as soon as possible after we receive it.

“Our democracy is strengthened by having a wide and diverse range of parties for voters to choose from. It’s important that we continue to ensure the transparency of smaller parties’ finances as well as those of the larger ones.

“Many of the people involved in compiling the statement of accounts of smaller parties are volunteers. We offer a good deal of support and guidance to help them meet their reporting obligations. Earlier this year we also wrote to every party registered with us, to remind them of their responsibilities and what they need to report to us.

“The levels of compliance are similar to previous years – there is still room for improvement. All those who have submitted late will be subject to a penalty. We will be making it clear to parties and accounting units that we are looking for higher levels of compliance for the next year’s accounts.”

The Commission checks statements of accounts to identify discrepancies with any other information we hold which has been submitted by parties or their accounting units. This allows us to see if they are fulfilling their obligations and take further action where necessary.

/ends
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:

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.
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), and whose financial year ends on 31 December, submit an annual statement of accounts to The Electoral Commission by 30 April and for more than that sum by 7 July.
Accounting units with income and expenditure that are both £25,000 or less are not required to submit their accounts.
The fact that a Statement of Accounts has been placed on the Commission’s website should not be taken to indicate that the Electoral Commission has verified or validated it in any way.
There were 341 political parties registered with the Electoral Commission at the end of 2009 whose financial year-end was 31 December. We maintain two registers of political parties, one for Great Britain and one for Northern Ireland. The 15 parties we expect to report gross income and expenditure above £250,000 are: