Political Donations Surge as General Election Approaches

An official attaches a sign to a polling station as voting begins in the by-election in Wakefield, England on June 23, 2022.Ian Forsyth/Getty Images

Donations to political parties in the first quarter of the year surged, according to Electoral Commission data released on Thursday.

According to the commission, parties raised more than £22.9 million in donations and public funds in the first three months of 2024, compared to £20.9 million in the same period in 2023.

A general election is taking place on July 4.

The Labour Party led in total donations this quarter, receiving £9.5 million, while the Conservative Party closely followed with £9.1 million.

Conservative

Health care software firm boss Frank Hester gave the Tories £5 million and donated anther £10 million via his company The Phoenix Partnership.

Sir Peter Wood, the founder of telephone insurer Direct Line, gave the party £500,000.

Billionaire businessman Lord Hintze, who founded the London-based CQS hedge fund group, and former Tory Deputy Chairman Lord Ashcroft, each added £50,000.

Greek businessman and investor Sokratis Kominakis, who is a minority shareholder in Nottingham Forest, and Richard Harpin, founder of home repairs company HomeServe and review website Checkatrade, were also among the Tory donors.

Labour

Labour accepted £2 million in total from major donor Dale Vince’s company Ecotricity, a British energy company based in Stroud, Gloucestershire, that specialises in selling green energy.

The green energy boss has donated to the climate activist group Just Stop Oil, although he halted such donations last year. At the time, Mr. Vince said that while he supported the group he believed that its protests were “counterproductive.”

The Turner Prize winning artist Sir Grayson Perry gave £180,000 to Labour.

The Liberal Democrats accepted £250,000 from venture philanthropist Stephen Dawson and over £200,000 from a franchisee of video games retailer CeX, Safwan Adam.

The Lib Dems said they would pledge to introduce a cap on donations to political parties in their manifesto.

The party said it would set the limit at £25,000 and establish an independent commission to determine the amount of funding political parties should receive.

The Electoral Commission also showed that businessman Lord Sainsbury gave £3 million to Labour and £10 million to the Conservative Party.

‘No Limit to the Amount That Parties Can Raise’

There were 374 registered political parties in Great Britain and Northern Ireland during the first quarter of 2024.

The Green Party raised over £401,000 and Nigel Farage’s Reform UK raised £25,000. The Socialist Party of Great Britain received a £35,000 donation. The SNP received no reportable cash donations in the first three months of 2024.

Louise Edwards, director of regulation and digital transformation at the Electoral Commission, said in a statement: “It is common to see donations to political parties grow ahead of an expected, and now scheduled, General Election. They reached £22 million in the opening quarter of the year.”

She added that the figures reflect the change to reporting thresholds, under which parties must, since the beginning of the year, report donations over £11,180 to the commission.

“While there is no limit to the amount that parties can raise, there are spending limits in place for campaigning ahead of elections,” she said.

‘Labour Are Still on Track for a Big Majority’

According to the latest figures from political forecasting website Electoral Calculus, a Labour majority is on the cards.

“The future is never certain. But using our advanced modelling techniques, we can estimate the probability of the various possible outcomes at the next general election,” it wrote.

On Monday, Reform UK announced Mr. Farage would become its leader and will also run as an MP in Clacton, providing a fresh electoral threat to the Tories.

On Friday, Electoral Calculus said that recent polling shows Labour’s lead over the Conservatives is “softening slightly.” It added that it believes that Mr. Farage’s party is “unlikely to win many seats.”

PA Media contributed to this report.