Summary of political parties’ donations and borrowing for quarter four 2016 (October to December)
The Electoral Commission is the independent body which oversees elections and regulates political finance in the UK. We work to promote public confidence in the democratic process and ensure its integrity.
Registered political parties are required to report quarterly donation and borrowing returns to us within 30 days of the end of each calendar quarter.
This document is a summary of donations and borrowing reported to us in the quarter four 2016 returns.
Find full analysis and breakdown of the figures for quarter four, 2016 here.
Read our news release on the quarter four donations and loans here.
Donations
Table 1: Reported donations to all political parties over the last four quarters
Quarter Donations Public funds Donations total excluding public funds Q4 2016 £7,737,775 £2,417,009 £10,154,784
Q3 2016 £6,490,557 £2,334,194 £8,824,750
Q2 2016 £14,992,533 £3,159,681 £18,152,214
Q1 2016 £11,954,008 £2,370,143 £14,324,151
Total £41,174,873 £10,281,027 £51,455,898
Table 2: Donations to political parties accepted in quarter four 2016 (October to December)
Party Donations Public funds Total excluding accepted in public funds quarter 4 2016 British National Party £9,429 - £9,429 Conservative and Unionist Party £3,610,983 £57,529 £3,668,513 Co-operative Party £39,750 - £39,750 English Democrats £5,000 - £5,000 Green Party £46,228 £53,025 £99,253 Labour Party £1,970,055 £1,797,090 £3,767,145 Liberal Democrats £1,972,904 £210,729 £2,183,633 Scottish Green Party £16,032 - £16,032 Scottish National Party (SNP) £4,165 £298,635 £302,800 UK Independence Party (UKIP) £33,228 - £33,228 Women’s Equality Party £30,000 - £30,000
Table 3: Donations accepted in previous quarters and reported late in quarter four 2016
Party Central Party Accounting unit
Value Number Value Number
Cannabis is Safer than Alcohol £20,000 1 - 0 [De-registered 03/11/16] Labour Party - - £15,327 4
Liberal Democrats £25,000 1 £5,250 2 The Socialist Party of Great £360,000 2 - - Britain Grand Total £385,000 4 £20,577 6
Table 4: Top donors for quarter four 2016
Donor Name Total amount (£) Recipient
Mr Gregory Nasmyth £1,000,000 Liberal Democrats
Unite the Union £440,622 Labour Party
Union of Shop Distributive and Allied £368,693 Labour Party Workers
GMB £332,808 Labour Party
Conservative and National Conservative Draws Society £300,000 Unionist Party Conservative and Mr Michael Davis £266,000 Unionist Party Conservative and Mr David Rowland £233,000 Unionist Party
Mr Alec Kellaway £193,579 Labour Party
Communication Workers Union CWU £121,132 Labour Party
Mr Michael Banks £120,000 Liberal Democrats Public funds
Table 5: Total of public funds accepted by parties in quarter four 2016 by type
Party Short money Cranborne Financial Policy Total (House of money (House assistance to Development Grant Commons)1 of Lords)2 parties (Scottish Parliament)3
Conservative and - - £57,529 - £57,529 Unionist Party
Green Party £53,025 - - - £53,025
Labour Party £1,574,952 £184,165 £37,973 - £1,797,090
Liberal Democrats £136,043 £66,699 £7,988 - £210,729
Scottish National Party £298,635 - - - £298,635 (SNP)
Total £2,062,655 £250,864 £103,490 - £2,417,009
1 Allocated to opposition parties in the House of Commons to assist with costs 2 Allocated to opposition parties in the House of Lords to assist with costs 3 Allocated to opposition parties in the Scottish Parliament to assist with costs
Late reporting
There were 398 registered political parties in Great Britain during quarter four 2016. 57 were required to submit a quarterly donation report and 51 to submit borrowing information within the deadline. Of these, the following parties failed to submit a donation or loan report for the Q4 2016 deadline.
Donations
Reported late Failed to report British National Party Cannabis is Safer than Alcohol English Democrats Chesterfield And North Derbyshire Independents Jammu Kashmir National Awami Clydesdale and South Scotland Party UK Independent Revolution UK Common Party Women's Equality Party Enact English Independence Europeans Party Immigrants Political Party [De- registered 03/11/16] Rayleigh Independents Take Back the City The Diamond Party [De-registered 03/11/16] The Economic Democracy Party Unity Scotland - The Unity Party We Are The Reality Party [De- registered 03/11/16]
Borrowing
Reported late Failed to report British National Party Common Party Chesterfield And North Derbyshire Enact Independents Jammu Kashmir National Awami English Independence Party UK Europeans Party Everyone's Party Immigrants Political Party [De- registered 03/11/16] One Love Party Rayleigh Independents Revolution UK Take Back the City The Diamond Party [De-registered 03/11/16] The Economic Democracy Party The Republic Party Unity Scotland - The Unity Party
All other parties are currently exempt from quarterly reporting.
Note:
Parties that submit nil returns for four consecutive quarters are then exempt from quarterly reporting.
The exemption continues to apply unless the party receives reportable donations again at which point the exemption is lifted and the party would again have to submit quartely reports to the Commission.
Any potential breaches of the legislation will be considered in line with our usual enforcement policy, which can be viewed here. Borrowing
Table 6: Total outstanding borrowing by party as at 31 December 2016
Party Loans4 Credit Connected facilities5 transactions6 Alliance EPP: European £45,341 - - People’s Party UK British National Party £119,304 - - Conservative and Unionist £838,347 £5,554,000 - Party English Democrats £166,644 - - Equal and Just Society £8,000 - - Labour Party £814,783 £113,000 - Liberal Democrats £1,000,317 £55,000 £40,000 One Love Party £10,000 - - Plaid Cymru – The Party of £9,413 £50,000 - Wales Scottish National Party (SNP) £665,553 - - Scottish Socialist Party £63,000 £10,000 - The Peoples Party For Better £7,800 - - Government The Respect Party [De- 18,417 - - registered 18/08/2016] UK Independence Party 285,000 - - (UKIP) Total £4,052,498 £5,782,000 £40,000
4 This is the maximum value of loans entered into by a party. In some instances, amounts may have been repaid and converted to donations. Further detail is available on PEF Online 5 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 6 Connected transactions are an arrangement where a person (or organisation) 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 organisation) has provided security or a guarantee, it is the maximum that they could be liable to pay. Table 7: New loans reported in quarter four 2016
Full details of loans, including the date on which 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 at: http://search.electoralcommission.org.uk/
Party Total value of new loans
Alliance EPP: European People’s Party UK £1,501
Conservative and Unionist Party £5,000
Total £6,501
Table 8: Loans repaid in full or converted to donations reported in quarter four 2016
Changes to terms and conditions of borrowings (such as changes to interest rate and repayment or review date) must also be reported to us. These details are available to view at: http://search.electoralcommission.org.uk/
Party Loans converted to Loans repaid in full donations (including partial conversion) Conservative and Unionist Party - £14,000
Liberal Democrats £2,000 £8,100
Total £2,000 £22,100