General election: Donation data reveal Labour's reliance on unions

Labour's increasing reliance on the unions for finance in the run-up to the general election has been highlighted by new donation data published on Thursday.

The figures show that Unite has given £1m, Unison has donated close to £500,000 and the Communication Workers Union has provided £50,000, out of a total £1.9m.

The money was declared to the Electoral Commission in the first of weekly updates during the month-long "short campaign".

Labour received by far the most cash for the period in question. The Conservative party revealed £501,850 from 16 private donors while the Liberal Democrats announced just £20,000 and the UK Independence party £35,000.

The gifts to the Tories included £70,000 from JCB Research, £50,000 from John Hartz, of Inflexion Private Equity, and £75,000 from Michael Tory, of Ondra Partners.

Unite's donation of £1m follows a gift of £1.5m from the union in January, confirming its status as the largest contributor to Labour by far.

Len McCluskey, Unite general secretary, has previously made vague threats that he would withdraw funding if the party did not shift further to the left. Ed Miliband, Labour leader, has promised to weaken the financial ties between Labour and the unions by ending the automatic transfer of members' "affiliation fees" to the party - while also reducing union members' votes in future leadership contests.

But Unite issued a statement earlier this year saying it would give generously to the election war chest after all. "The union is determined that the present government should not be allowed to float to re-election on a tide of big business cash while Labour remains under-resourced," it said at the time.

Mr Miliband made a series of union-pleasing announcements on Monday as he unveiled his party's election manifesto. These included a new public sector bidder for rail franchises, a higher minimum wage and a crackdown on zero-hours contracts. However, the Labour leader's emphasis on fiscal discipline has annoyed many of his supporters in the union movement, who argue that cuts to public spending are self-defeating and worsened the recent recession.

At the same time David Cameron, the Tory leader, has pleased wealthy supporters by cutting the top rate of income tax and resisting the idea of a "mansion tax".

The remaining £300,000 of new donations to Labour has come from private donors, according to people familiar with Labour's finances.

The biggest of these was £250,000 from Sir David Garrard, co-founder of former property group Minerva, who has been a consistent donor to Labour in recent years.

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Financial Times analysis of the past five years show that donations to Labour from individuals have slumped to less than half of their level during the last parliament.

The opposition party received just £8.7m from private donors in the last parliament against £20.7m in the previous parliament, according to Electoral Commission data.

But Labour argues that the commission's figures ignore its income from small donations, which amounted to £3.7m in 2014. This included 40,000 small donations from 23,000 members made in response to letters and phone calls - as well as thousands more from small online donations.

The party says it received £34m last year, of which 35 per cent came from individual members' fees and donations.

Tony Blair has promised £1,000 to each of 106 candidates in marginal seats. But two rejected the money from the triple-election winning former prime minister, reflecting his controversial status since leaving office.

Labour said it was proud to receive money from "millions of teachers, nurses, builders, plumbers, supermarket workers" rather than the hedge funds and "super-rich" Tory donors. "Labour's members and small donors give us the largest proportion of all our income," it said.

Meanwhile, Lord David Sainsbury, previously one of Labour's most generous donors - who stopped giving after Mr Miliband won the leadership - gave £30,000 to a group called "The Campaign for British Influence in Europe".

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