Labour rakes in £3million in every week as Tories battle for money

Labour has banked £8.6million in donations for their campaign machine since the General Election was called – compared to just £1.2million for the Tories.

The latest figures from the Electoral Commission show Keir Starmer’s party booster their coffers £3.3million in the week to 19 June, including a £500,000 donation from the sculptor Sir Anthony Gormley. The Tories reported just £350,000 from donors over the same period, including £18,000 from former top minister Robert Jenrick, who is standing for re-election in Newark.

Labour has already reported £4.38million in donation for the week to 12 June and £926,908 in the first week of the election. The Tories received £574,918 in the first week of campaigning and £292,500 in the second week.

Reform UK has raised £981,000 over the course of the election. After raising £742,000 in the second week of the campaign, the right-wing outfit’s fundraising efforts dipped, raising just £99,000 in the third week of the election.

Pimlico Plumbers boss Charlie Mullins, a former Tory donor who was forced to apologise last year after tweeting that “someone should kill” London Mayor Sadiq Khan, gave Reform UK £20,000 in the week to 19 June. It comes after he slated Reform leader Nigel Farage earlier this year, saying Brexit had “not worked and it’s not going to work” and predicting Britain would rejoin the EU.

The Liberal Democrats raised £193,945, bringing their total for the campaign to £983,944.

It comes after a number of mega-rich Conservative donors abandoned Rishi Sunak’s flailing party, which is facing the prospect of wipeout at the polls next week. Billionaire Phones4U founder John Caudwell, who gave £500,000 to Boris Johnson’s campaign in 2019, recently said he was deserting the party after supporting them for 51 years.

He branded Mr Sunak an “absolute dud” and took aim at the last three Tory leaders who he said had left him “despairing”. He endorsed Mr Starmer after meeting him and seeing Labour’s manifesto.

Sir John Hall, who has donated more than £500,000 to the Tories and supported Theresa May’s snap election bid in 2017, said yesterday that he had defected to Reform UK. The former Newcastle United owner has given an undisclosed sum to the party, according to Nigel Farage.