Labour is punching its weight with donations but is receiving them from the many and not the few, the Financial Times Chief Political Correspondent Jim Pickard has claimed.
Donations to the Conservatives were more than double Labour’s during the first quarter of 2017, according to new figures from the Electoral Commission.
Theresa May’s party reported £5.46 million from donors between January and March, with mining millionaire Michael Davis providing the biggest gift of £317,000.
Labour on the other hand reported just £2.64 million, but many additional donations probably didn’t make the required threshold for disclosure.
Labour has had huge number of small donations (below declaration threshold) from ordinary people: the “many not the few” in financial form https://t.co/WLo23pQDtF
— Jim Pickard (@PickardJE) May 25, 2017
Among the donations released by the Electoral Commission was a £317,000 donation by Mick Davis, who quit British mining company Xstrata with nearly £75million in 2013 after it was bought by commodity trader Glencore.
Several large property firms also buffered the Conservative Party’s coffers, with donations of £39,100 and £50,000 a piece given by Akehurst Property Limited and S.E. Land and Estates Limited respectively.
Commodities broker Lord Michael Farmer donated £57,500 to the Tories, along with sizeable donations from banker Peter Cruddas (£70,500), investment fund manager Jeremy Hosking (£50,000) and real estate mogul Leopold Noe (£130,000).
The Labour Party, conversely, has around 517,000 members who pay £3 a year compared to the Conservative’s 149,800 members.