Labour outraised the Tories in 2013, but financial worries still remain

The Electoral Commission’s annual report of party finances has been published for 2013, and it turns out that Labour actually raised more money than the Conservatives last year – by almost £8 million. Labour raised £33.4m, while the Tories raised just £25.4m.

As George Eaton points out, over at the New Statesman, much of Labour’s advantage comes from short money (the money opposition parties receive from the state). However, this only amounts to £6.9m, meaning Labour still raised roughly an extra million than the Tories.

Eaton outlines where the rest of the money comes from:

“Of this total, the largest chunk (£8m) came from party affiliates, most notably the trade unions, but Labour also received £5.1m from individual donors (including £1.6m from businessman John Mills), £3.1m from commercial income, £0.6m from fundraising and £5.7m from party members, the number of which increased from 187,537 in 2012 to 189,531. If small donations are included (the Electoral Commission does not record donations below £7,500), the sum raised from members stands at more than £8m, making them the largest source of funding.”

The news here that Labour’s membership rose to almost 190,000 is obviously welcome, especially as the last reports of the Tory membership stood at the much lower 134,000.

It is not all good news, though. The Conservatives are reportedly planning to reveal their new membership figures at Autumn conference, sparking rumours that it has received a significant boost: potentially overtaking Labour in the process. The Lib Dems have already seen a small increase in their membership, rising last year by a thousand to 43,451, after losing over 20,000 members in the preceding two years.

The figures of money raised also do not tell the full story. Labour still host almost £6m in debt (£), mostly dating back to the 2005 election campaign, and far more than the £591,000 worth of debts that the Conservatives have accrued.

While it seems unlikely that Labour will be looking to pay off debts in an election year, when campaign funding takes precedent, we can at least take solace in the fact that after spending, Labour still made a £5.5m surplus last year – far outstripping the Tories’ £1.9m surplus. In the long-term, the level of debt needs to be reduced significantly, but we can be optimistic that our fundraising operation is looking so healthy with less than a year until election day.