Legislation on political parties

We regulate the registration and finances of political parties. The rules we apply are set out in the Political Parties, Elections and Referendums Act 2000 (PPERA).

This page provides information on:

registration of political parties
donations
loans
campaign spending
statements of accounts

Registration of political parties

Groups that want to use a party name on a ballot paper must register with us as political parties. We maintain two registers of political parties, one for Great Britain and the other for Northern Ireland.

If your group wants to register as a political party, we recommend you read our Guidance on registering as a political party (PDF) before completing an application form.

Donations

There are controls on the donations parties can accept under Part IV of PPERA. Parties may accept donations of any amount, but the donation must come from a permissible donor if it is above £200 in value. When a party receives a donation it has 30 days to decide whether the donor is permissible. Parties cannot accept donations from unidentifiable sources.

Registered political parties (with a few exceptions) are required to submit quarterly donation and loan reports to us within 30 days of the end of each calendar quarter.

Under Section 54 of PPERA, eligible donors are:

an individual registered in a UK electoral register (including bequests)
a UK registered company which is incorporated within the European Union and carries on business in the UK
a UK registered political party
a UK registered trade union
a UK registered building society
a UK registered limited liability partnership that carries on business in the UK
a UK registered friendly society
a UK based unincorporated association that carries on business or other activities in the UK
certain kinds of UK-based trusts

We provide guidance for political parties regarding donations (PDF).

We also maintain a searchable register of donations.

Northern Ireland

Political parties in Northern Ireland are subject to the donation controls with two important differences:

Northern Ireland parties may receive donations from certain sources in the Republic of Ireland.
Donations reported to us by parties in Northern Ireland are kept confidentially and do not appear on a public register.

The confidentiality of donations to political parties in Northern Ireland will last until 2010 in the first instance but may be extended by the Secretary of State.

Guidance is available for political parties in Northern Ireland to explain the operation of donation controls.

Loans

Registered political parties have to comply with the law regarding permissibility of lenders and transparency of borrowing arrangements.

We provide guidance to political parties on loans.

We also maintain a register of loans.

Northern Ireland

Controls on loans were introduced in Northern Ireland on 1 July 2008. Guidance on this will be available shortly.

Campaign spending

During relevant elections, there are limits on the amount political parties can spend campaigning.

We provide guidance for parties about the campaign spending rules (PDF).

In addition, details of reported campaign spending by political parties can be found in the relevant register.

Political party campaigns for a referendum must comply with controls on spending by a permitted participants in a referendum.

Where a political party campaigns in a relevant election but it has not put forward any candidates of its own, it may need to comply with controls on sepnding by third parties.

Statements of Accounts

All registered political parties must submit an annual statement of accounts (SOAs) to us. There are currently four accounting bands set out in PPERA: