BNP to receive fine from Electoral Commission

The financial accounts of the main political parties in the UK for the year ending 31 December 2006 have been published today by the Electoral Commission.

Political parties and their accounting units are required by the Political Parties, Elections and Referendums Act 2000 (PPERA) to submit their accounts each year to the Commission. Those with gross annual income or total expenditure of over £250,000 are given six months from year end to prepare their accounts and have them independently audited before submitting them. The accounts were due by 7 July 2007.

In May, the Commission published the financial accounts of those political parties and accounting units whose gross income and total expenditure were each less than £250,000. Accounting units with income and expenditure that are both under £25,000 are not required to submit their accounts.

Thirteen political parties reported income or expenditure of over £250,000:

Conservative and Unionist Party
Co-operative Party
Democratic Unionist Party
Green Party Labour Party
Liberal Democrats
Plaid Cymru – the party of Wales
Respect – the Unity Coalition
Scottish National Party
SDLP (Social Democratic and Labour Party)
Sinn Féin
Ulster Unionist Party
UK Independence Party

Seven accounting units reported income or expenditure of over £250,000:

Aylesbury Conservative Constituency Association
Cities of London and Westminster Conservative Constituency Association
Kensington and Chelsea Conservative Constituency Association
Liberal Democrats in England
Parliamentary Office the Liberal Democrats
Scottish Labour Party
Surrey Heath Conservative Constituency Association

The Commission is currently scrutinising all the submitted accounts, by cross checking them against other information held and where discrepancies occur, raising them with the parties. Having agreed with comments from the Constitutional Affairs Committee and Sir Hayden Phillip’s review of party funding about the difficulty in interpreting financial accounts, the Commission is looking at this issue with a view to implementing guidelines to increase transparency and consistency by making the information more easily understandable. The Commission intends to consult with political parties later this year regarding plans to standardise the format and presentation of statement of accounts.

Two parties and one accounting unit in this reporting band will be fined for failing to submit their accounts by the statutory deadline. The Co-Operative Party submitted their accounts to the Commission six days late and have been issued with a penalty notice for £500. Final statements of accounts have yet to be received from the British National Party and Scottish Liberal Democrats’ accounting unit. The penalty they face will depend on the length of time between the missed deadline and the submission of outstanding information.

Peter Wardle, Chief Executive of the Electoral Commission said:
“The accounts should be a key source of information for anyone wishing to find out more about how a political party is funded, and what it spends its money on. Without complete and open accounts, you cannot have full transparency about party finances.

“The rules on transparency are vital to public confidence and integrity in the democratic process. That’s why we are now taking a tougher approach to ensuring parties follow the rules, including fining parties who don’t submit their accounts on time and looking at how we can get parties to improve the ways in which they present their accounts.”
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Notes to editors:

1. The Electoral Commission is an independent body set up by the UK Parliament. Our aim is integrity and public confidence in the UK’s democratic process. We regulate party and election finance and set standards for well-run elections.

2. The Political Parties Elections and Referendums Act 2000 requires that parties with a gross income or expenditure of £250,000 or less (and their accounting units with a gross income or expenditure in excess of £25,000 and below 250,000) submit an annual statement of accounts to The Electoral Commission by 31 March and for more than that sum by 7 July.

3. There are 388 political parties registered with The Electoral Commission as of today.

4. Under PPERA political parties may register accounting units with The Electoral Commission. An accounting unit is a constituent or affiliated organisation of a political party and is responsible for its own financial affairs and transactions.

5. The fact that a Statement of Accounts has been placed on the public record should not necessarily be taken to indicate that the Electoral Commission has verified or validated it in any way.

Contact: Neil Freshwater or Lynne Veitch
Phone: 0131 556 0770 or 07887 778 759 (out of hours).
Email: elections@pagodapr.com
Website: http://www.electoralcommission.org.uk/regulatory-issues/soayearend2002.cfm

Thanks to our friends at Kirklees Unity