POLITICS FOR SALE: ANALYSING TWENTY-ONE YEARS OF UK POLITICAL DONATIONS

Analysing the major parties and the different categories of donors in our data, one of the main patterns of association that stands out is the close relationship between the trade unions and the Labour Party. [...] In Figure 5 we plot the value of political donations received by the six largest political parties in the data: the Conservative Party, Labour, the Liberal Democrats, UKIP, the Green Party and the Scottish National Party, in every year. [...] In the case of donations from individuals the picture is somewhat more mixed, but the Tories are clearly the preferred party of the wealthy, receiving 60% of the total party political donations made by individuals over the whole period. [...] The proportion of Tory donations coming from companies declined from around 50% in the 1980s to 20% in 1996, and the early to mid 1990s saw a decline in the proportion of Tory donors among large companies specifically.9 The further decline of big business as donors in the 2000s likely reflects the higher level of transparency introduced by the Political Parties, Elections and Referendums Act 2000,. [...] Also notable are the donations from that sector that went to the Liberal Democrats under the leadership of Charles Kennedy, as well as the higher proportion of donations from business service companies to both Labour and the Conservatives in the New Labour period.17 17 Due to a lack of data, this diagram excludes the leadership of William Hague and the two most recent Conservative leaders.