Union donations put Labour ahead of Tories in political fundraising

Donations registered with the Electoral Commission between July and September totalled £3,529,270 for the Opposition compared with the Conservatives’ £2,744,618.

The third-largest income during the period was recorded by the Scottish National Party, which received £1,988,657.

Data was revealed a day after the main Westminster parties united to oppose extra state funding for parties as part of a bid to end the reliance on a few wealthy donors.

The Commission’s figures showed that taxpayers underwrote political parties to the tune of just under £2.1m in the quarter.

Fears over the political impact of increasing that when voters were facing service cuts and economic uncertainty scuppered reform efforts on Tuesday after a sleaze watchdog suggested using an extra £23m-a-year taxpayer subsidy to make up for imposing a £10,000 cap on donations and tighter rules on trade union funding.

Almost 90 per cent of the Labour total – £3,138,443 – came from the unions. That figure is certain to fuel Tory claims that the party is overly influenced by the sector.

A Labour spokesman said its biggest single source of income was membership subscriptions and small donations below the threshold requiring declaration to the commission.

The three main parties also came under fire from the watchdog for late reporting of some of their donations – with the Tories and Liberal Democrats also censured over loans reporting.

Outstanding loans now totalled £14,789,996, the Commission said.

The biggest single donation was £1,493,317 given to Labour by the Unite trade union – with Unison giving another £731,299.

Coffers at the SNP were swelled nearly £1m left to it in the will of former national poet Edwin Morgan, who died last year, and £1m from Europe’s biggest lottery winners, Colin and Chris Weir.

The Tories did not bring in any mega-donations during the period – the biggest being a £258,500 boost from Peter Cruddas.

Their coalition partners the Liberal Democrats accepted £580,272 from the Methuen Liberal Trust Fund.

Labour owes almost £10m in loans against the Tories’ £2.7m.