Record £26m donated to political parties in run-up to general election

DONATIONS to political parties reached their highest level on record during this year's general election campaign.

The Electoral Commission reported 26.3 million worth of donations were registered by 16 parties as having been received in April, May and June.

The Conservatives received 12.3m, Labour 10.9m and the Liberal Democrats 2m. The SNP received 277,437.26, mainly due to a 210,000 bequest from the late William Graham of Kirkcaldy, who died in November.

The three main UK parties took a share of more than 1m of public funds and owed more than 31m between them at the end of the period. Labour had the highest borrowing at the end of June, with 16,645,172, followed by the Tories on 13,128,326 and the Lib Dems on 1,600,314.

The previous record for quarterly political donations was 20.6m, which was received by parties in the first three months of 2005, ahead of that year's general election.

Among the high-profile Scottish donors was the developer Angus Tulloch, who gave 60,000 to the SNP and 27,500 to the Lib Dems in Scotland.

Glasgow Businessman Willie Haughey donated 52,000 to Scottish Labour, which also received 4,000 from a pub called Franklyn's Bar in Bellshill, Lanarkshire.

The Lib Dems in Scotland have an anti-nuclear policy, but they still received 2,500 from Robert Armour, a former executive of the nuclear power company British Energy who is a long-time party member.