News releases

Twenty political parties registered in Great Britain have reported accepting just under £13.2 million in donations, according to new figures published by the independent Electoral Commission.

Political parties accepted the donations, details of which are published today, between April and June 2009. During the same period, five of the parties also received payments from public funds totalling just over £2.7 million.

As at 30 June 2009, the total loans entered into by parties stood at just under £18.6 million, credit facilities (such as overdrafts) at just over £11 million and connected transactions (such as guarantees) at £930,000.

The Commission is currently checking the permissibility of all donations and borrowing reported by all parties in quarter two and will take action over any breaches of the rules.

The Commission’s registers of donations and borrowing accepted in the second quarter of 2009 show that:

Donations

• Twenty political parties reported donations totalling £13,193,754 (excluding public funds) accepted between 1 April and 30 June 2009.
• The three political parties to accept the most in donations were:
• Conservative Party- £6,394,673
• Labour party- £4,391,632
• Liberal Democrat party- £1,132,079
• Five parties also received a total of £2,724,230 in public funds.
• Five out of the 335 registered parties have not yet provided their required donation return on time and will incur a penalty.
• Seven political parties reported 26 donations totalling £352,810 this quarter that should have been reported in previous quarters;
• Three parties reported receiving seven donations totalling £3,964 from impermissible sources. The parties returned these to donors within the allowed time.
• An accounting unit of the Liberal Democrats accepted four donations totalling £1,328 that the Electoral Commission identified as impermissible. The party has voluntarily forfeited these donations.

Borrowing

• Seven parties entered into new loans totalling £301,943.
• The total amount of repaid loans reported was £1,756,418 (including loans converted to donations).
• The total amount of loans outstanding stands at £18,568,623.
• The Liberal Democrats increased existing credit facilities by £509,000.
• The total amount currently available to all parties through credit facilities is £11,053,500.
• The Labour Party established a new connected transaction of £600,000.
• The total amount of connected transactions on behalf of parties is £930,000.
• Eleven out of the 335 registered parties have not yet provided their required borrowing return on time and will incur a penalty.

Peter Wardle, Chief Executive of the Electoral Commission said:

“This was the fourth highest quarter ever for donations – the second highest outside a general election quarter – and we received donations reports from a larger number of parties than usual. This is something we’d expect given the level of campaigning at the European elections this June.

We said during the last quarter that it was unacceptable for central parties to be reporting donations late and that we’d be evaluating the systems they had in place. Having spoken with them, we’re pleased with the improvements shown by the main parties, who are reporting far fewer donations late. We hope to be able to build upon the improvements that they have shown.

“We’re also pleased that all the new parties that registered ahead of the European elections and were reporting for the first time managed to do so on time and uphold their legal responsibilities.

“It is regrettable therefore, given the general improvement and high standards of compliance by most parties, that we had very large donations reported late by the Co-operative Party and the Christian Party “Proclaiming Christ’s Lordship”. We’ll be assessing the systems they have in place to ensure compliance with the law and expect to see them reporting donations on time in the future.

“We have not yet received a donation return for this quarter from the British National Party. This comes on top of their failure to deliver their latest annual statement of accounts to the Commission. This is unacceptable and the party will be issued with fines for both reporting failures. We will also be assessing the systems they have in place to ensure compliance with the law.”

A summary of the donations and loans declared in the second quarter of 2009 follows below. Full details of all donations and loans are available on our registers at:
http://www.electoralcommission.org.uk/party-finance/database-of-registers. An analysis of donations in the second quarter is also available at: http://www.electoralcommission.org.uk/party-finance/party-finance-analysis/party-finance-analysis-Q2-2009

For further information contact:

The Electoral Commission press office on 0207 271 0704
Out of office hours 07789 920414
Email press@electoralcommission.org.uk

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 (PPERA) requires GB and NI registered parties to report cash and non-cash donations and loans on a quarterly basis to the Electoral Commission. Parties must report any donation or loans above £5,000 made to the central party, or donations or loans exceeding £1,000 made to a local accounting unit.
3. From 1 November 2007 parties on the Northern Ireland register of political parties were required to conform to donation controls and from July 2008 with controls on loans. As required by the legislation, permissible donations and borrowing reported to us will not be published. These are transitional arrangements that will apply until October 2010 at the earliest. 4. Parties may accept donations of over £200 only if they are deemed ‘permissible’ under the terms of the Political Parties, Elections and Referendums Act (PPERA) 2000 at the time the donation was made.
5. The figures reported for donations and borrowing have been rounded to the nearest £. Exact figures are available on our website.
6. In previous press releases loans, credit facilities and connected transactions have been presented as a total for ‘borrowing’. To aid clarity, the figures are now presented separately.
7. Credit facilities are an agreement where a registered party is entitled to receive a loan of money from time to time from another person (or organisation). The credit facility will generally have an upper limit specified in the credit facility agreement. Examples of common credit facilities include overdrafts and credit cards. The amount displayed is the maximum that can be borrowed and not the amount that is drawn upon at any one time.
8. Connected transactions are an arrangement where a person (or organization) gives any form of security on behalf of a political party in respect of a loan or a credit facility arranged with someone other than the party or the person giving security. Where a person (or organization) has provided security or a guarantee, it is the maximum that they could be liable to pay.

Summary of Q2 2009 donations and loans

Donations

Donations to all political parties over the last four quarters

Donations total (£)

Note: further analysis is available on our website.

Donations to political parties accepted in quarter two 2009 (April to June)

Donations identified as being from impermissible sources

Note: These figures are included in the total given in ‘Donations to political parties accepted in quarter two 2009 (April to June)’
Note: The seven donations identified by the parties as impermissible were returned to the donor within the allowed time-period. The four donations accepted by the Liberal Democrats and identified as impermissible by the Commission have been voluntarily forfeited to the Commission.

Donations accepted in previous quarters and reported late this quarter

Donations reported this quarter that should have been reported in previous quarters totalled £352,810.49.

Public funds

The Conservative Party, Liberal Democrats, Plaid Cymru and the Scottish National Party received a total of £1,676,011 in Short money, which is paid directly by the UK Parliament to opposition parties in the House of Commons.

The Conservative Party, Labour Party, and Liberal Democrats received £95,104 in assistance paid directly to opposition parties in the Scottish Parliament.

The Conservative Party and Liberal Democrats also received a total of £263,959 in Cranborne money which is for opposition parties in the House of Lords.

The Conservative Party, Labour Party, Plaid Cymru and the Scottish National Party claimed a total of £689,157 in Policy Development Grants which are allocated according to a formula approved by the UK Parliament and distributed by the Electoral Commission.

Borrowing

New loans in quarter two 2009 (April to June)

Note: Further details including the date the loan was entered into, date repayable, interest rate (whether fixed, variable or nil), whether security was given and details of the lender are available on the Electoral Commission website.

Loans repaid in full or converted to donation in quarter two 2009 (April to June)

Note: Changes to terms and conditions of borrowings (such as changes to interest rate and repayment or review date) must be reported to the Electoral Commission. These details are available to view on the Commission website.

Total outstanding loans by party as at 30 June 2009 (not including partial repayments)

Increase of credit facilities in quarter two 2009 (April to June)

Amount of money available in credit facilities by party as at 30 June 2009

Total amount of connected transactions as at 30 June 2009

Loans reported this quarter that should have been reported in previous quarters

Borrowing reported this quarter that were entered into during previous quarters totalled £.

Notes

1. Charts and tables providing comparisons to previous quarters can be accessed at: http://www.electoralcommission.org.uk/party-finance/party-finance-analysis/party-finance-analysis-Q2-2009and here http://www.electoralcommission.org.uk/party-finance/party-finance-analysis. To search the register of donations to political parties, visit the Commission’s website www.electoralcommission.org.uk and go to the registers page using the 'party finance' link at the top of the home page.
2. Details of all loans can be found here (along with details of interest rates and repayment or review dates): http://registers.electoralcommission.org.uk/regulatory-issues/loanstopolparties.cfm/_nocache
3. Table of donations reported in quarter two 2009 which should have been reported previously can be accessed here in the “Lates” tab http://www.electoralcommission.org.uk/__data/assets/excel_doc/0005/79646/Late-donations-details.xls
4. The penalties for failure to submit statutory returns on time can be found at section 147 of PPERA, here:
http://www.opsi.gov.uk/Acts/acts2000/ukpga_20000041_en_15#pt10-pb5-l1g147
5. Some donations appear on the register as being from the House of Lords or House of Commons. These are Short and Cranborne grants which are available to parties in opposition in the House of Commons and House of Lords respectively.
6. Some donations appear on the register as being from the Electoral Commission. These are Policy Development Grants which were established by PPERA 2000 for parties represented in the Commons by two or more sitting members. The grants are intended to assist parties in developing the policies that they will present in an election manifesto. The legislation provides the total sum of £2 million annually for this purpose. Policy Development Grants became reportable as donations for the first time in quarter three of 2006 as a result of the Electoral Administration Act 2006.
7. Quarter one 2009 figures on donations and borrowing were published by the Electoral Commission on 27 May 2009. The press release can be accessed at: http://www.electoralcommission.org.uk/news-and-media/news-releases/electoral-commission-media-centre/news-releases-donations/political-partieslatest-donations-and-borrowing-figures-published