Party Funding Evidence

Question 1

How many labour members are there

Answer 1

366,000

Question 2

How much did the labour party recieve from membership fees in 2021

Answer 2

£16,187,000 - about 35% of their total income

Question 3

How much did the conservatives receive in membership fees in 2021

Answer 3

£2million

Question 4

The Labour Party receives significant funding from….

Answer 4

Trade unions e.g. UNISON and UNITE

Question 5

How much did Labour receive from trade union affiliations in 2021

Answer 5

£5,821,000 - around 13% of their income

Question 6

What act harmed Labour Party funding from trade unions? why?

Answer 6

2016 Trade Union Act

Obliged new trade union members to choose whether they wanted to opt into making payments towards political influence, rather than automatically being opted in as they were previously.

Question 7

How much did the Labour Party receive in 2021 from fundraising

Answer 7

£200,000

Question 8

How much did the Labour Party receive in 2021 from public funding

Answer 8

Almost £7million - around 15.5% of their total income

(Around 75% of this was from short money)

Question 9

In 2021/22 how much did labour receive in public funding compared to the conservatives

Answer 9

£7,670,000 - labour

£451,000 - Conservatives

Question 10

How much did the Liberal Democrat’s receive from public funding in 2021/22

Answer 10

£1,282,000

Question 11

A Lord who donated money to the Labour Party

Answer 11

Lord Sainsbury, for example, donated significant sums to the Labour Party under Blair, Brown and Miliband.

Question 12

How much did Boris Johnson raise in comparison to Theresa May

Answer 12

In 2019, Boris Johnson helped to increase funding from donations due to his popularity, with the Conservative Party receiving £56million in donations in the election year, compared to the £34 million Theresa May was able to raise in 2017.

Question 13

How much did labour and the conservatives receive in 2021 from funding

Answer 13

Conservatives - £20,500,000 (around 65% of overall funding)

Labour - £9,933,000 (around 22% of their overall funding)

Question 14

MPs must report loans and donation over

Answer 14

£500

Question 15

Cash For Peerages

Answer 15

In 2006-07, there was a scandal concerning a possible link between individuals who had loaned significant amount to the Labour Party and these individuals being nominated by PM Tony Blair for life peerages in the HoL.

Question 16

Bernie Ecclestone

Answer 16

• within months of Blair becoming PM in 1997, he faced criticism following the revelation that Bernie Ecclestone had donated £1million to Labour.
• alleged that there was a link between this and a delay in implementing a ban on tobacco advertising in F1 racing.
• Blair was forced to justify himself on TV

Question 17

Michael Brown and The Liberal Democrat’s

Answer 17

• In 2005, business man Michael Brown donated £2.4million to the Lib Dem’s. A year later her was jailed for perjury.
• there was pressure on the Lib Dem’s to return the donation, but they kept it after the Electoral Commission concluded that they had accepted the donation in line with electoral rules.

Question 18

Lord Cruddas

Answer 18

• Billionaire conservative donor
• days after being appointed he donated £500,000 to the Conservative Party
• he was made a peer by Boris Johnson despite the fact he failed the Appointments Commission vetting process, which Johnson overruled.

Question 19

Labour and Lib Dem proposal to limit donations

Answer 19

In the 2015 election Labour and the Lib Dem’s supported a suggestion to impose limits on individual donations to parties.