Tory donations dry up as big business backs Labour

The Tories have been dwarfed by the Labour Party in fundraising as big donors ditch Rishi Sunak's party ahead of the 4 July general election.

- ARCHIE MITCHELL

Figures released yesterday reveal that the Conservatives raised £292,500 from 6 June to 12 June, just weeks after the prime minister called the general election.

By contrast, donors flocked to get behind Sir Keir Starmer’s bid to enter Downing Street, pumping £4.4m into the Labour Party’s coffers. After a series of polls put the Tories on course for a historic defeat, the Electoral Commission statistics are the latest sign of the electoral wipeout facing the party.

The dire Tory fundraising figure is also less than a third of the £742,000 raised by Reform UK since Nigel Farage’s shock return as leader and its Clacton election candidate. And, with polls also suggesting Mr Sunak could even struggle to return the Tories as parliament’s second largest party, the Conservatives also raised less than Sir Ed Davey’s Liberal Democrats, which brought in £335,000.