Stephen Tall

Here’s the BBC News report:

Donations to political parties fell by almost £1m during the second quarter of this year, official figures show. The Electoral Commission said £7,873,478 in funding had been reported – down £992,312 on the first three months of the year. The Conservatives received £3,785,579, Labour £2,964,471 and the Liberal Democrats £717,797.

The Lib Dem figure of £718k is the party’s lowest second quarter fundraising performance since 2006 (when it was less than half this year’s total, at £334k). This graph from the Electoral Commission which compiles the figures shows the disparity between the parties’ financial muscle, a gap which is compounded with every passing quarter:

Perhaps it’s not so very hard to see why neither the Tories nor Labour is keen on reform of party funding?

I have, by the way, uploaded the following Googledoc spreadsheets for viewing:

• All registered Lib Dem donations, 2001-11;
• Lib Dem donations 2012, 1st quarter;
• All registered Conservative party donations, 2001-11;
• All registered Labour party donations, 2001-11.

* Stephen Tall is Co-Editor of Liberal Democrat Voice, a Research Associate for the liberal think-tank CentreForum, and also writes at his own site, The Collected Stephen Tall.