Financial accounts for smaller political parties published

5 Jul 2019 11:37 AM

Financial accounts of political parties and their accounting units in Great Britain, with income and expenditure of £250,000 or less, have been published by the Electoral Commission. The accounts are for the year ending 31 December 2018.

Party income and expenditure

Financial accounts of 277 political parties in Great Britain are reported as being within this threshold. Five parties reported income or expenditure between £50,000 and £250,000:

Party

Income

Expenditure     

British National Party

£152,280

£142,692

Communist Party of Britain

£151,045     

£123,546

Upminster and Cranham Residents Association     

£95,758

£74,877

Scottish Socialist Party

£77,081

£38,074

The Socialist Party of Great Britain

£40,948

£199,271

The full financial accounts for each of the 277 political parties are available on the Commission’s website, alongside the financial accounts for 27 political parties in Northern Ireland with income and expenditure of £250,000 or less.

Accounting unit income and expenditure

Political parties may register 'accounting units’ with the Electoral Commission. These are constituent or affiliated units of a political party, including constituency parties, which have separate finances from the main party.

393 accounting units in Great Britain reported income and expenditure between £25,000 and £250,000. In total, these accounting units reported £21,077,215 income and £20,744,562 expenditure.

The ten accounting units with an income over £150,000 are listed below. A further 24 reported income between £100,000 and £150,000.

Party

Accounting unit

Income

Expenditure     

Conservative and Unionist Party     

Kensington

£233,148

£231,395

Labour Party

National Trade Union Liaison     

£228,590

£197,787

Conservative and Unionist Party 

Aylesbury

£226,807     

£159,550

Liberal Democrats 

Westmorland and Lonsdale

£213,845

£224,621

Conservative and Unionist Party 

Richmond Park

£181,865

£192,769

Liberal Democrats

Twickenham and Richmond

£175,472

£180,907

Liberal Democrats

Wales

£174,622

£143,842

Conservative and Unionist Party 

Croydon Central

£171,572

£215,462

Liberal Democrats

Hazel Grove

£170,721

£141,214

Conservative and Unionist Party 

Bristol North West

£153,273

£147,889

Full details of all accounting units’ accounts that were published are available on the Commission’s website, alongside details for Northern Ireland accounting units’ accounts.

Comparisons with previous years

Figures comparing these latest financial accounts  for political parties and their accounting units with those for 2017 and 2016 are below.

Political parties

 

2016

2017

2018

Income

£1,180,955

£1,195,733 

£1,213,960

Expenditure     

£1,138,149     

£1,138,103     

£1,249,577     

Accounting units

 

2016

2017

2018

Income

£21,762,856

£32,595,055

£21,077,215

Expenditure     

£20,590,153     

£29,849,412     

£20,744,562     

Late submissions

43 political parties in Great Britain failed to submit their accounts by their deadline of 30 April 2019. The Commission will review each of these reporting failures in line with its established Enforcement Policy.

Political parties and their accounting units with income or expenditure of more than £250,000 must submit their audited accounts by 7 July 2019. We expect to publish these in August 2019.

For further information please contact the press office on 020 7271 0704 or email press@electoralcommission.org.uk. For outside office hours call 07789 920414.

Notes to editors:

1. The Electoral Commission is the independent body which oversees elections and regulates political finance in the UK. We work to promote public confidence in the democratic process and ensure its integrity by:

The Commission was set up in 2000 and reports to the UK and Scottish Parliaments.

2. Accounting units with income and expenditure that are either £25,000 or less are not required to submit their accounts.

3. Financial accounts of political parties and their accounting units in Northern Ireland, with income and expenditure of £250,000 or less, have been published. The press release has also been published 

4. The fact that a Statement of Accounts has been placed on the Commission’s website should not be taken to indicate that the Electoral Commission has verified or validated it in any way.

5. Figures for income and expenditure have been rounded. Please see our online database for exact amounts.

6. Details of how failures to submit Statement of Accounts by the deadline have been dealt with in the past can be found in our publication of closed cases.