22 February 2012: Analysis of campaign spending publishedHaving published campaign spending figures for the various polls that took place in 2011, a report analysing that spending is now available. The report analyses campaign spending at the 2011 Scottish Parliament, Welsh Assembly and Northern Ireland Assembly elections, which you can find a breakdown of the figures for below. It also analyses figures relating to the UK referendum on the Parliamentary voting system, which also took place on 5 May 2011. Click here to view figures for the 2011 UK-wide referendum > |
On 1 December 2011 we published the expenditure of political parties and third party campaigners that spent more than £250,000 at the 2011 devolved elections, which were held on 5 May 2011. Spending of £250,000 or less was published in September 2011.
Below you will find a summary of expenditure by political parties and third parties at each election, as well as links to the spending returns submitted to the Electoral Commission. Parties and third parties are also required to submit submit an invoice or receipt for each item of expenditure of more than £200 - links to these invoices are also provided.
Please use the links below to view the information in respect of:
- Scottish Parliament elections
- National Assembly for Wales elections
- Northern Ireland Assembly election
- Third parties at the 2011 devolved elections
To view full details of every item of expenditure, compare headline figures to previous elections and extract expenditure data for your own use, please visit our PEF Online registers.
This page does not include details of campaign spending at the UK Parliamentary voting system (PVS) referendum, which was also held on 5 May 2011. Please follow this link to view the expenditure of campaigners at the PVS referendum 2011.
Further information:
Scottish Parliament election
Analysis of campaign spendingPlease follow the link below to download summary figures, breakdown by category of expenditure and comparisons with 2003 and 2007 elections: |
Table 1: Campaign spending by parties at the 2011 Scottish Parliament election
Returns from parties that reported no expenditure have not been published.
Where a party did not incur an item expenditure of more than £200 and so was not required to submit invoices, the invoices column reads 'N/A'.
Where a party failed to submit invoices, the column reads 'Not submitted'.
Figures below have been rounded to the nearest pound.
| Political Party | Spending limit (£) | Total expenditure (£) | Return | Invoices |
| All Scotland Pensioners Party | 664,000 | 12,034 | Return (PDF) | Invoices (PDF) |
| Angus Independents Representatives (AIR) | 92,000 | 1,689 | Return (PDF) | Invoices (PDF) |
| Ban Bankers Bonuses | 160,000 | 4,529 | Return (PDF) | Invoices (PDF) |
| British National Party | 640,000 | 9,779 | Return (PDF) | Invoices (PDF) |
| Christian Party "Proclaiming Christ's Lordship" | 664,000 | 352 | Return (PDF) | Invoices (PDF) |
| Christian People's Alliance | 160,000 | 988 | Return (PDF) | Invoices (PDF) |
| Communist Party of Britain | 12,000 | 0 | N/A | N/A |
| Conservative and Unionist Party | 1,516,000 | 273,462 | Invoices (PDF) | |
| Co-operative Party | 132,000 | 1,865 | Return (PDF) | Invoices (PDF) |
| Labour Party | 1,450,000 | 816,889 | ||
| Land Party | 12,000 | 50 | Return (PDF) | N/A |
| Liberal Democrats | 1,504,000 | 176,300 | Return (PDF) | Invoices (PDF) |
| National Front | 140,000 | 0 | Return (PDF) | N/A |
| Pirate Party UK | 160,000 | 750 | Return (PDF) | Not submitted |
| Scottish Green Party | 640,000 | 132,464 | Return (PDF) | Invoices (PDF) |
| Scottish Homeland Party | 160,000 | Return not submitted | ||
| Scottish National Party (SNP) | 1,516,000 | 1,141,662 | ||
| Scottish Socialist Party | 640,000 | 8,795 | Return (PDF) | Invoices (PDF) |
| Scottish Unionist Party | 160,000 | 4,500 | Return (PDF) | Invoices (PDF) |
| Socialist Labour Party | 560,000 | 2,758 | Return (PDF) | Invoices (PDF) |
| Solidarity - Scotland's Socialist Movement | 560,000 | 3,627 | Return (PDF) | Invoices (PDF) |
| The Liberal Party | 172,000 | 230 | Return (PDF) | Invoices (PDF) |
| The Respect Party | 80,000 | 8,196 | Return (PDF) | Invoices (PDF) |
| UK Independence Party (UK I P) | 676,000 | 30,319 | Return (PDF) | Invoices (PDF) |
National Assembly for Wales election
Analysis of campaign spendingPlease follow the link below to download summary figures, breakdown by category of expenditure and comparisons with 2003 and 2007 elections: |
Table 2: Campaign spending by parties at the 2011 National Assembly for Wales election
Returns from parties that reported no expenditure have not been published.
Where a party did not incur an item expenditure of more than £200 and so was not required to submit invoices, the invoices column reads 'N/A'.
Figures below have been rounded to the nearest pound.
| Political Party | Spending limit (£) | Total expenditure (£) | Return | Invoices |
| British National Party | 270,000 | 20,141 | Return (PDF) | Invoices (PDF) |
| Christian Party "Proclaiming Christ's Lordship" | 200,000 | 2,480 | Return (PDF) | Invoices (PDF) |
| Communist Party of Britain | 200,000 | 1,905 | Return (PDF) | Invoices (PDF) |
| Conservative and Unionist Party | 600,000 | 283,269 | Invoices (PDF) | |
| Co-operative Party | 130,000 | 228 | Return (PDF) | Invoices (PDF) |
| English Democrats Party | 50,000 | 2,297 | Return (PDF) | Invoices (PDF) |
| Green Party | 210,000 | 56,944 | Return (PDF) | Invoices (PDF) |
| Labour Party | 575,000 | 153,009 | Return (PDF) | Invoices (PDF) |
| Liberal Democrats | 600,000 | 114,178 | Invoices (PDF) | |
| Llais Gwynedd - The Voice of Gwynedd | 10,000 | 432 | Return (PDF) | Invoices (PDF) |
| Official Monster Raving Loony Party | 40,000 | 0 | N/A | N/A |
| Plaid Cymru - The Party of Wales | 600,000 | 173,139 | Return (PDF) | Invoices (PDF) |
| Putting Llanelli First | 10,000 | 2,720 | Return (PDF) | Invoices (PDF) |
| Socialist Labour Party | 200,000 | 3,173 | Return (PDF) | Invoices (PDF) |
| Trade Unionist and Socialist Coalition | 80,000 | 240 | Return (PDF) | Invoices (PDF) |
| UK Independence Party (UK I P) | 200,000 | 55,391 | Return (PDF) | Invoices (PDF) |
Northern Ireland Assembly elections
Analysis of campaign spendingPlease follow the link below to download summary figures, breakdown by category of expenditure and comparisons with 2003 and 2007 elections |
Table 3: Campaign spending by parties at the 2011 Northern Ireland Assembly elections
Returns from parties that reported no expenditure have not been published.
Figures below have been rounded to the nearest pound.
Where a party did not incur an item expenditure of more than £200 and so was not required to submit invoices, the invoices column reads 'N/A'.
| Political Party | Spending limit (£) | Total expenditure (£) | Return | Invoices |
| Alliance - Alliance Party of Northern Ireland | 306,000 | 28,593 | Return (PDF) | Invoices (PDF) |
| British National Party | 51,000 | 3,181 | Return (PDF) | Invoices (PDF) |
| Democratic Unionist Party - D.U.P. | 306,000 | 84,514 | Return (PDF) | Invoices (PDF) |
| Green Party | 102,000 | 5,822 | Return (PDF) | Invoices (PDF) |
| People Before Profit Alliance | 68,000 | Return not submitted | ||
| Procapitalism | 17,000 | 95 | Return (PDF) | N/A |
| Progressive Unionist Party of Northern Ireland | 17,000 | 310 | Return (PDF) | Invoices (PDF) |
| SDLP (Social Democratic & Labour Party) | 306,000 | 38,262 | Return (PDF) | Invoices (PDF) |
| Sinn Fein | 306,000 | 51,851 | Return (PDF) | Invoices (PDF) |
| Socialist Party (Northern Ireland) | 51,000 | 1,514 | Return (PDF) | Invoices (PDF) |
| Traditional Unionist Voice - TUV | 187,000 | 6,413 | Return (PDF) | Invoices (PDF) |
| UK Independence Party (UK I P) | 102,000 | 18,176 | Return (PDF) | Invoices (PDF) |
| Ulster Unionist Party | 289,000 | 96,495 | Return (PDF) | Invoices (PDF) |
| Workers Party [The] | 68,000 | 3,264 | Return (PDF) | Invoices (PDF) |
Third party expenditure
The spending limits for third parties campaigning prior to the 2011 devolved elections were
- Scotland - £75,800
- Wales - £30,000
- Northern Ireland - £15,300
Table 4: Spending by third parties at the 2011 devolved elections
Where a third party incurred only notional expenditure and so was not required to submit invoices, the invoices column reads 'N/A - notional'.
Figures below have been rounded to the nearest pound.
To view details of donations to third parties during the regulated period for the 2011 devolved elections, please search our PEF online registers.
| Third party | Scotland (£) | Wales (£) | Northern Ireland (£) | Total expenditure (£) | Return | Invoices |
| Labour No to AV | 5,382 | 3,529 | 0 | 8,912 | Return (PDF) | N/A - notional |
| Public and Commercial Services Union | 22,391 | 19,221 | 1,211 | 42,823 |
| |
| Searchlight Information Services Ltd | 0 | 342 | 0 | 342 | Return (PDF) | Invoices (PDF) |
| The Campaign to End All Animal Experiments* | 2,976 | 1,647 | 691 | 5,314 | ||
| 2,929 | 2,828 | 2,464 | 8,221 | Return (PDF) | Invoices (PDF) | |
| The Educational Institute of Scotland | 61,996 | 0 | 0 | 61,996 | Return (PDF) | Invoices (PDF) |
| Unite Against Fascism | 242 | 2,893 | 0 | 3,135 | Return (PDF) | Invoices (PDF) |
* Following a case review by the Commission of the Campaign to End All Animal Experiments return, the Campaign to End All Animal Experiments have submitted additional information on expenditure since the original return. The figures and downloadable files in the top row consitute the original return - those in the second row show the additional information provided.
Contact us
For any questions or requests, please contact the Party and Election Finance Directorate by email (pef@electoralcommission.org.uk) or telephone (020 7271 0616).
