Political parties received over £50m in donations in first half of 2015

[zenitzz]

Labour repaid several loans from wealthy individuals in last quarter and received £7.8m in donations in election period, while Tories were given £9.2m


The Labour party repaid a loan of £2m to Richard Caring in June, only to see a company run by the clothing tycoon give £100,000 to the Conservatives, according to new figures from the Electoral Commission. The donation was one of dozens made during the general election period, with political parties receiving over £50m in donations in the first half of 2015.

Between April and June of this year, the Conservatives received £9,163,385, while Labour were given £7,800,618. Ukip were given £2,016,582 in three months, while the Liberal Democrats received only £1,391,939.

Caring’s loan was one of several repaid by the Labour party in the last financial quarter, according to figures from the Electoral Commission. Loans from the care home founder Chai Patel and the financier Barry Townsley were also repaid. The party had been paying up to 6.5% interest on the loans, which totalled £7m.

Read more : http://www.theguardian.com/politics/2015/aug/19/political-parties-received-over-50m-in-donations-in-first-half-of-2015

[jayce]

Some businessmen always taking the advantage of this situation, which they will loan their money for the political party, and after the party get winning, then those businessmen could run their company smoothly, without any obstacles. Win-win situation for both side, but not for society.

[Snail2]

I believe distributing the "independent" advisor to the government positions is something what largely depends on the generosity of some people and corporations. This is not an open bribe, but a tit for tat approach, to make sure the advisory boards will give some "good" advice therefore the government can make the "right" decisions :/.