Sharp rise in donations to parties over the summer

A total of £19 million was donated to political parties between July and September, £4m more than in the previous three months.

The Electoral Commission reported the Conservative and Unionist Party received the highest number of donations out of the 15 parties to declare their earnings, taking in a total of £5,763,445 in the third quarter of 2019.

Of that, £5,338,696 was given as donations and another £424,749 was received as public funds.

A total of £19,245,771 was accepted by the 15 parties in the third quarter of 2019, from July to September.

This is over £4.29m more than the amount reported in the previous quarter, between April and June.

The second highest total was reported by the Labour Party, which received £5,476,086, with £2,646,940 of public funds accepted by the party as part of the overall sum.

The Liberal Democrats received £3,298,001, with £2,916,505 received as donations and £381,496 accepted as public funds.

Nigel Farage’s Brexit Party accepted £3,390,000, all of which was made up of donations.

The Scottish National Party received a total of £332,662 in the quarter, with £201,924 of public funds accepted by the party as part of the overall sum.

Plaid Cymru accepted a total of £141,531, all of which was public funds.

The Green Party accepted a total of £105,839, made up of £77,650 in donations and £28,189 in public funds.

The lowest recorded donation total was £3,041 for the Scottish Green Party.