Election donations: Tories given most of record £40.1m total

Theresa May campaigningPA

Political parties were given a record £40.1m in donations ahead of June's general election - and the Conservatives received more than all their rivals combined.

New figures from the Electoral Commission covering the 11 largest parties show £24.8m was given to the Tories from April to June, more than double Labour's £9.4m.

The Lib Dems were given £4.3m.

The total was £9.4m more than the previous highest quarter on record.

The previous record quarter coincided with the 2015 general election.

The biggest donor over the three-month period covering the 2017 general election campaign was the Unite union - which gave £4.1m to Labour - followed by the construction vehicle manufacturer JCB, which donated £1.5m to the Tories.

Former Conservative Party deputy chairman Lord Ashcroft, who said last year that he would start donating to the Tories again having fallen out with former leader David Cameron, gave £500,000.

Electoral Commission director of political finance and regulation Bob Posner said: "The snap general election prompted political parties to raise record-breaking sums in the second quarter of 2017.

"The reporting and publication of this data is key to providing voters with transparency about how political parties financed their general election campaigns."

Here are the figures for the 11 largest parties:

  • Conservatives - £24,840,627

  • Labour - £9,492,519

  • Liberal Democrats - £4,358,410

  • Scottish National Party - £596,000

  • Women's Equality Party - £282,931

  • Green Party - £176,363

  • UKIP - £156,455

  • Co-operative Party - £150,980

  • British National Party - £100,000

  • The Socialist Party of Great Britain - £26,333

  • Plaid Cymru - The Party of Wales - £5,300