NI political parties accept over £2.2 million in 2025

6 Mar 2026 08:55 AM

Political parties registered in Northern Ireland reported accepting £435,891 in donations and public funds during the fourth quarter of 2025 (October to December), according to figures published today by the Electoral Commission (Opens in new window).

This compares to £431,373 in the same period in 2024, and £642,349 in the previous quarter (Q3 2025). Overall £2,259,849 was accepted in the year 2025. (Opens in new window)

Cahir Hughes, Head of the Electoral Commission in Northern Ireland, said:

“Over £2.2m in donations was accepted by political parties in Northern Ireland during 2025. The UK political finance system has high levels of transparency, and we know that voters are interested in where parties get their money from. This publication is an important part of delivering this information for voters.

“However, we know there are parts of the system that need strengthening, and we have been calling for changes to the law for some time. The UK government’s proposed reforms to the political finance regime in the Representation of the People Bill have the potential to improve the strength of donation controls and help ensure voters can have confidence in the political finance system. We will continue to work with the UK government so that any changes are evidence based and workable in practice.”

The political parties to report donations in Q4 2025 were:

Borrowing

The Democratic Unionist Party D.U.P. reported a change to an overdraft facility.

Further information

The Commission has also published the donations and loans for parties across the United Kingdom today.

Full details of donations and public funds for political parties in Northern Ireland are available on our political finance register (Opens in new window), as are details for political parties in Great Britain (Opens in new window).

Notes to editors

Political parties are required to submit quarterly donation and loan returns to the Electoral Commission. Within these returns, parties report:

donations accepted above the £11,180 threshold (£2,230 for accounting units)
smaller donations from a single donor which exceed the reporting threshold when taken together
impermissible donations they have received and action taken by the party in relation to these
donations which ought to have been reported in previous quarters

As parties only report donations and loans over these thresholds, the figures do not include all donations and loans to political parties. Donations and loans under these thresholds are recorded in political parties’ annual statements of accounts (Opens in new window).
Public funds are donations from the House of Commons, the House of Lords, the Northern Ireland Assembly and the Electoral Commission. ‘Short’ and ‘Cranborne’ grants are available to parties in opposition in the House of Commons or House of Lords respectively.
Some donations appear on the register as being from the Electoral Commission. These are Policy Development Grants, which were established by the Political Parties, Elections and Referendums Act 2000 for parties represented in the Commons by two or more sitting members. The grants are intended to assist parties in developing the policies that they will present in an election manifesto. The legislation provides the total sum of £2 million annually for all eligible political parties for this purpose. Policy Development Grants became reportable as donations for the first time in quarter three of 2006 as a result of the Electoral Administration Act 2006. 
There were 31 registered political parties in Northern Ireland during quarter three 2025. Nine were required to submit a quarterly donation report and five to submit borrowing information within the deadline. The remaining political parties have previously submitted four consecutive nil returns. Providing they have not received donations in the last quarter, they are exempt from submitting a report.