THE SNP received just £4000 in donations in the first three months of 2023, new reports from the Electoral Commission have revealed.
In comparison, the Conservatives were given £12.1 million – including a single donation of £5m from a dictator-linked Egyptian billionaire.
The Tory party also received two donations of £2m, one from Amit Lohia – the billionaire “prince of polyester” – and another from Graham H Edwards, a commercial property magnate.
Labour were handed £4.4 million in donations over the first three months of 2023. The largest, which was worth £725,250, came from Unite the Union.
The LibDems were given £1.3 million in donations over the period.
The SNP’s single £4000 donation came from a James Murdoch, according to the Electoral Commission reports.
The party’s Westminster group did also take three payments of £95,779 from the House of Commons to fund their activities.
The Scottish Green Party received no donations over the first three months of the year, according to the newly published records.
The Ulster Unionist Party, DUP, and Plaid Cymru all also received no donations over the period.
The Green Party of England and Wales were given £168,926 over the period, including an £8000 donation from sculptor Antony Gormley.
In total, political parties registered in the UK reported accepting £20,887,106 in donations and public funds during the first quarter of 2023, according to the Electoral Commission figures.
This compares to £12,792,415 accepted in the same period in 2022.
Of the £20.8m accepted, £2,520,706 was public funding.
The Electoral Commission noted: “Parties will likely have received other donations, from different individuals or bodies, that are below the thresholds for reporting to the Commission. Taken as a total sum these can amount to substantial sources of income for parties.”
Louise Edwards, the Electoral Commission’s director of regulation and digital transformation, said: “We publish details of these donations so that voters understand how political parties are funded. We know transparency of party and campaigner finance is important for people, but our research tells us that only 24 per cent of people believe party funding is transparent.
“It’s clear that publishing this information is not enough. We continue to recommend to the UK Government that it reforms the system, to help protect parties from those who seek to evade the law, and give voters more confidence.”
