UUP top spender in Assembly election... but didn’t gain seats
THE Ulster Unionists spent more than any other party in this year’s Assembly election campaign — yet failed to win any extra seats.
Mike Nesbitt’s party remained stuck on 16 MLAs after spending a total of £95,855, more than its rivals in the DUP, which had an outlay of £89,439.
The DUP remained the largest Assembly party with 38 MLAs.
The figures emerged as it was warned that the public was being kept in the dark over how donations to political parties in Northern Ireland may have been used in election campaigns.
The Electoral Commission said it was not able to provide information on donors or loans to the parties as the full spending figures emerged for the May election. And the watchdog renewed its call for the Government to pass legislation to bring the province into line with the rest of the UK as regards disclosure on donations.
Donations of over £7,500 are revealed to the Electoral Commission, but it is not allowed to make them public because of security concerns.
Commission head Ann Watt said: “We are still unable to publish any information on the donations received by these parties which may have helped to fund their election campaign.
“There continues to be a desire from the public for more information on how our political parties are funded.”
On the nationalist side, Sinn Fein spent £53,243. It lost one seat from its previous Assembly total of 29.
The SDLP spent £51,736. It lost two MLAs, going down from 14 to 12 seats.
The Alliance Party spent £37,554.
It retained eight Assembly Members.
The unofficial Labour candidates, running as the NI Labour Representation Committee, spent just £7,545 and failed to gain a seat.
The Green Party gained an extra seat with expenditure of £3,283.
Jim Allister’s Traditional Unionist Voice spend was £3,703. It failed to gain a second seat.
The UVF-linked Progressive Unionist Party spent £1,000, and didn’t gain a seat.
The Electoral Commission received no submissions from the Cannabis Is Safer Than Alcohol party and NI First, and submissions from both People Before Profit and Ukip were late.