Britain’s political parties spent more than £100m last year as they prepared for the general election, figures from the Electoral Commission have disclosed.
Between them the Conservatives (£36.9m) and Labour (£35.3m) accounted for nearly three-quarters of political spending in 2014 as they attempted to gain the upper hand in the pre-election skirmishes.
The two parties’ expenditure substantially outstripped the Liberal Democrats (£8.8m), the Scottish National Party (£7.2m) and Ukip (£6.7m). The Greens spent £1.3m and Plaid Cymru spent £635,000.
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Across the 13 political parties which crossed the £250,000 declaration threshold, some £107.5m was received in income against £101.3m in spending.
Labour received the most income, at £39.5m, over the period, recording a surplus of £4.2m as it accumulated a war-chest for Ed Miliband’s ill-fated campaign.
The Conservatives brought in £37.4m during 2014, while the Liberal Democrats collected £10.3m, the SNP £7m and Ukip £6.6m.
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The Scottish Green Party and the British National Party missed a deadline of July 7 to return their accounts.
The BNP, which has virtually vanished off the political map, also missed a second deadline of July 31 and is to be investigated by the commission.
