Lib Dems top Labour funding

JEREMY CORBYN faced fresh humiliation yesterday as new figures showed the Liberal Democrats have topped his Labour Party for cash donations for the first time since records started in 2001.

The Lib Dems received £1,972,904 in the last quarter of 2016, with a surge in donations from wealthy pro-Europeans who back their anti-Brexit stance.

Labour raised £1,970,055, according to the Electoral Commission, while Ukip managed just £33,228 – less than the Greens’ £46,228. And, in the first full quarter of Theresa May’s premiership, the Conservatives raised £3,610,983.

The Lib Dem surge was largely due to a single £1 million donation, secured by leader Tim Farron from Gregory Nasmyth, a former journalist who made a fortune from last year’s £950 million sale of his family’s Argus Media oil data company. Records show it is his first party donation as an individual.

Lib Dem president Baroness Brinton said Brexit was the key factor, adding: “People want a voice that believes Britain is open, tolerant and united ... whatever is going on in Jeremy Corbyn’s divided and extreme Labour Party, it is clear the Lib Dem fightback is on.”

Tory peer Lord Tebbit said the Lib Dems were “feasting on the corpse” of Mr Corbyn’s party, adding that “most Labour voters have given up”. Labour’s largest donations were from trade unions. The biggest Tory donors were mining millionaire Michael Davis and property developer David Rowland.

A Labour spokesman said: “Labour is a mass membership party, proud to be funded by members and working people ... our main rivals increasingly rely on a small pool of donors.”