2009 European Parliament election - Parties' expenditure

On 5 January we published the 2009 European Parliament campaign expenditures of political parties that spent more than £250,000. Expenditures of parties that spent up to £250,000 were published on 1 October, including Northern Ireland parties and third parties.

Below is a summary of the expenditure incurred by political and third parties with links to the returns and invoices. You will also be able to download Excel spreadsheets detailing the expenditure by type of payments and category and analysed by parts of Great Britain:

• Great Britain political parties
• Northern Ireland political parties
• Third parties

Click here to find out more about the legislation on party campaign expenditure.

To view details of the expenditure and other financial information, please visit our PEF Online Registers search. 

Please follow this link to view the result of the 2009 European Parliament election.

Update:

On 22 March 2010 we published our full report on campaign spending at the 2009 European Parliamentary elections. This builds upon preliminary analysis undertaken in January 2010. The report includes details of spending by political parties, third parties and individual candidates, as well as comparative analysis of spending at the 2004 European Parliamentary election.

• Report on campaign spending at the 2009 European Parliamentary elections in the United Kingdom (PDF).

Great Britain parties 

Parties that spent £250,000 or less had to submit their return by 4 September 2009. Parties that spent more than £250,000 were required to submit their return by 4 December 2009 together with an independent auditor's certificate. All parties' returns must include invoices and receipts for all expenditure exceeding £200.

To view campaign expenditure incurred by Great Britain political parties at the 2004 and 2009 European Parliamentary elections, analysed by payment type, area and by category of expenditure, please download this Excel spreadsheet (XLS).

Returns and Invoices

The table below lists all parties that contested the European Parliamentary election on 4 June 2009 with their total expenditure.

You can view the return and invoices submitted by the party by clicking on the relevant link. Individuals' personal information, bank accounts and party registration numbers have been redacted for security reasons. 

To view details of the parties' expenditure at the European Parliamentary election 2009 and previous elections, please visit our PEF Online campaign expenditure search. 

Total Expenditure by England, Scotland and Wales

The chart below compares the total expenditure by parties in the 2004 and 2009 European Parliamentary elections. We have only included those parties that either returned at least one MEP or spent more than £250,000.

To view campaign expenditure incurred by Great Britain political parties at the 2004 and 2009 European Parliamentary elections, analysed by payment type, area and by category of expenditure, please download this Excel spreadsheet (XLS).

  Chart 1. Expenditure by party divided by part of Great Britain

Total Expenditure by category

The charts below compare categories of expenditure by all parties and by each party at the 2004 and 2009 European Parliamentary elections. Expenditure categories are defined within the legislation.

To view campaign expenditure incurred by Great Britain political parties at the 2004 and 2009 European Parliamentary elections, analysed by payment type, area and by category of expenditure, please download this Excel spreadsheet (XLS).

  Chart 2. All parties European Parliamentary elections 2004 and 2009 campaign expenditure by category

  Chart 3. Category of expenditure by party 

The chart below includes only those parties that either returned at least one MEP or spent more than £250,000. Expenditure categories are defined within the legislation.

Northern Ireland parties

The table below lists the parties that contested the European Parliamentary election 2009 with the expenditure incurred by the party and the candidate. Northern Ireland parties that contested the election were required to submit campaign expenditure returns to us. In addition candidates had to submit candidate expenses returns to the Chief Electoral Officer for Northern Ireland. The latter information is available from the Election Office for Northern Ireland.

We combined both figures to provide an overall total.

Please click on the direct link to view parties' return and invoices.

To view campaign expenditure incurred by Northern Ireland parties at the 2004 and 2009 European Parliamentary elections, analysed by type of payment and by category of expenditure, please download this Excel spreadsheet (XLS).

To view details of the parties' expenditure at the European Parliamentary election 2009 and previous elections, please visit our PEF Online campaign expenditure search. 

* Please note that the Conservative and Unionist Party and the Ulster Unionist Party campaigned together as the 'Ulster Conservative and Unionist Party - New Force' with Jim Nicholson as joint candidate. The parties had to prepare and submit two separate expenditure returns to us. 

Click here for information on the legislation on candidate expenses.

Third parties

The table below shows third parties' campaign expenditure at the European Parliamentary election analysed by part of the United Kingdom.

Third parties are individuals or organisations, other than political parties or candidates, which campaign at an election. Third parties may campaign for or against individual candidates or for or against political parties or issues.

To view details of third parties' expenditure at the European Parliamentary election in 2009 and previous elections, please visit our PEF Online campaign expenditure search.

To view donations received by third parties please visit our PEF Online donations search.

Please follow this link to view the result of the 2009 European Parliament election.

For questions or requests, please contact the Party and Election Finance Directorate by email (pef@electoralcommission.org.uk) or telephone (020 72710616).