Labour are significantly outweighing the Tories on campaign donations, data from the Electoral Commission has revealed.
Sir Keir Starmer’s party has secured some £5.3m in the first two weeks of the election campaign, compared to Prime Minister Rishi Sunak’s Conservatives on under £900,000.
The figures showed the Tories raised under £300,000 – just £292,500 – in the second week of the campaign, versus Labour’s £4.4m, via a £2.5m donation from Lord David Sainsbury.
Released on Friday, the accounts published by the UK’s elections watchdog showed the Conservatives have raised just £889,000 since the election was called, in comparison to the £8.7m they raised in the first fortnight of the 2019 campaign under Boris Johnson.
Top donations of two lots of £50,000 came in from Bestway Wholesale, ultimately owned by Tory peer Lord Zameer Choudrey via the Guernsey-based Bestway Group, and an incorporated organisation called “The Spring Lunch”, which lists an address in Norfolk.
Major Labour donors included Autoglass chief Gary Lubner, who gave £900,000, and hedge fund manager Martin Taylor, who gave £700,000.
While Trade union Aslef provided £100,000 to the party, alongside former Cable and Wireless executive Nick Razey.
Reform UK raised £742,000 in the second week of the campaign, largely through £500,000 donated by Britain Means Business Ltd, a company controlled by party boss Richard Tice.
They also received £50,000 from former pop star and Neighbours actor Holly Valance, and their total major donations during the first fortnight came to £882,000.
The Liberal Democrats received £335,000 in the second week of the campaign, taking their total for the election to £789,999 in donations.
This included another £150,000 from businessman Safwan Adam and a £100,000 bequest from John Faulkner, a long-standing party member who left the party £1m in his will in 2023.
Political parties are required to provide weekly reports of donations of more than £11,180, after the government increased the threshold from £7,500 in January, but they have 30 days after receiving a donation to check that it is from a permissible source and decide whether to accept it.