Britain’s Labour opposition reaped at least 14 times more in large donations than Prime Minister Rishi Sunak’s Conservative Party in the second week of campaigning for the general election.
Official figures from the Electoral Commission showed Keir Starmer’s Labour hauled in £4.3 million , excluding public funds, in the week to June 12. That compared with £300,000 for the Conservatives and £335,000 for Liberal Democrats.
Nigel Farage’s right-wing Reform UK took in £742,000, mainly from its chairman Richard Tice.
Sunak’s party is trailing by more than 20 points in opinion polls less than two weeks before the July 4 election. Data on donations shows the people supporting the opposition, including David Sainsbury, the former chairman of the supermarket chain that bears his name.
Lord Sainsbury as he’s known gave £2.5 million to Labour. Others who backed the opposition include former Autoglass Ltd. boss Gary Lubner and hedge fund manager and long-time Labour donor Martin Taylor, who gave £900,000 and £700,000 respectively.
The Conservatives have struggled to raise funds, with the largest donation in this round coming from a Conservative fundraising lunch which raised £50,000 for the party.
Reform received over twice as much as Sunak’s party, £500,000 of which came from Tice’s company Britain Means Business Ltd. British businessman David George Plumer Lilley gave Reform £100,000.
Farage’s announcement he would stand as parliamentary candidate has boosted Reform’s takings. Other Reform UK donors included:
The figures are not an exhaustive total of sums received by the parties as only donations of more than £11,180 in value are reported.
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