Brexit: Donations to Conservatives halve amid anger over Theresa May's leadership
Income from donors plummets from £7.4m at the end of last year to £3.7m in the first three months of 2019
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Your support makes all the difference.Donations to the Conservative Party have plummeted amid anger at Theresa May's leadership and the government's handling of Brexit, new figures have revealed.
Electoral Commission data showed the party received £3.68m in donations in the first quarter of 2019 - less than half the £7.44m it banked in the previous quarter.
The number of people donating to the Tories also dropped. In the first quarter of last year, the Conservatives received £4.8m from 234 donors. By the start of 2019, that had fallen to 220 donors.
The figures suggest that donations slumped after the publication of Ms May's Brexit deal in November.
Previous reports had suggested that several major Conservative donors were refusing to give the party money until she stepped down as prime minister.
In contrast, donations to Labour stayed relatively steady over the last six months. Jeremy Corbyn's party received £3.5m from 102 donors in the first quarter of 2019, compared to £3.7m from 90 donors during the previous three months. The biggest donation came from trade union Unite, which gave the party almost £540,000 in the first quarter of 2019. Another union, Unison, donated £326,000.
The Liberal Democrats, meanwhile, received just over £1m from 106 donors - only slightly down from the £1.3m the party made from 152 donors in the last quarter of 2018.
The figures suggest that persuading Conservative donors to revive their backing of the party will be a key task for the next Tory leader. Boris Johnson, Michael Gove and Jeremy Hunt are the current frontrunners in the contest, which is due to conclude by mid-July.
According to a report leaked to the Financial Times earlier this year, the Conservatives raised £26m last year but spent £25m, leaving only a £1m buffer.
A Conservative Party spokesperson said: “This has been a challenging fundraising year for major political parties."
The Tories’ biggest donor during the first quarter of 2019 was their own chief executive, Sir Michael Davis, who gave £316,000. During the last quarter of 2018 the party received £1.5m from theatre producer John Gore.
As expected, the smaller political parties raised significantly less money. The Scottish National party received £259,000 from five donors, Ukip was given £118,000 by three donors, and the Green Party raised £59,000 from 14 donors.
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