£30 thousand? Labour received £14 million in secret loans before an election

https://www.youtube.com/watch?app=desktop&v=jbCzDhbu0g0

Today BBC Scotland, with images of the former SNP Chief Executive and, of course, his wife Nicola Sturgeon, has:

The SNP could face another probe into its finances after taking five years to declare thousands of pounds in loans from its former chief executive.

The Electoral Commission said the party received two payments totalling £15,000 from Peter Murrell in 2018, but did not notify the watchdog until last year.

https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-scotland-67896063

Only at the very end, on the other probe, launched 54 months ago, re £600 000 of the SNP’s own money apparently vired from one heading to another, as many organisation do legally:

No-one has been charged by police and the party has vowed to co-operate fully with the investigation.

In March 2006, the Guardian could report:

Downing Street today announced that a former Whitehall mandarin has been appointed to look into the future of party funding as Labour confirmed it had received almost £14m in secret loans before last year’s election.

Sir Hayden Phillips, a former permanent secretary at the Department for Constitutional Affairs, will look into the future of party funding in liaison with the political parties, following Mr Blair’s promise to review existing arrangements.

https://www.theguardian.com/politics/2006/mar/17/constitution.uk

The result? Labour was not fined. Labour was not probed. There was only a wider investigation of the system. The Labour Government agreed that there should be ‘a more robust regulatory system’, but refused to allocate state funds to pay for setting it up.

In 2021, the Conservative Party was fined by the Electoral Commission for inaccurate donation reporting. https://www.electoralcommission.org.uk/media-centre/conservative-party-fined-inaccurate-donation-report

12 thoughts on “£30 thousand? Labour received £14 million in secret loans before an election”

  5. Did anyone spot BBC or newspaper headlines concerning the following matters reported in the past 12 months on the Electoral Commission’s website?

    1) Posted 19 December, 2023: ‘Electoral Commission concludes investigations into two political parties: Investigations into two political parties have closed over the last month, with the Electoral Commission imposing fines in each case.’

    One of these relate to the ‘Labour Party (registered political party)’ for the offence of ‘Late reporting of 18 donations’ – a fine of £250 was imposed.

    Source https://www.electoralcommission.org.uk/media-centre/electoral-commission-concludes-investigations-two-political-parties-0

    2) In similar vein, reported on 23 October 2023 on the Electoral Commission website: ‘Liberal Democrats (political party)- ‘Late reporting of 25 donations’ – ‘offences found’ – ‘Two fines of £200 each, and one fine of £2,000’

    3) And on 23 May 2022: ‘Labour Party (political party) – ‘Late reporting of donations’ – ‘offences found’ – ‘Three fines of £200 each’.

    I suspect one could go even further back in time and find multiple other offences involving UK political parties that are NOT NEWSWORTHY even though they are reported by the Electoral Commission as ACTUAL OFFENCES rather than just a potential/alleged one!

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  6. Westminster Gov funding Covid over two years £270Billion. Much misappropriated.
    Tories funded by tax evading hedge funds, multinationals, non Doms, and banks. Labour funded by Trade Unions. Illegal wars, Trident, HS2, Hickley Point, redundant weaponry, too much on the military. Total waste of public monies. Brexit losing £Billion. Migrants not processed properly and not allowed to work. Given £3 a day being reduced to £1.50 but they cannot work due to the delay on the system. A delay deliberately created by the Tories. To manipulate the figures costing £Billion. Damaging the economy.

    SNP funded by its members. Can do the right thing with impartiality, Follow a manifesto. Improve Scotlands economy. Since 2000 Devolution. Supporting public services and the people. More cohesion. People are happier.

    Westminster Gov. raising £813Billion+ council tax. 2019/20. 2020/21 Westminster Gov raised £731Billion + council tax. Less than the year before. Yet there are claims UK has a higher tax burden. Tax raised is less. Brexit etc.

    UKGov spent £1090Billion. Yet claim there is not enough to fund the NHS properly. Cut £6Billion a year from education from 2015. £48Billion. Cut £16Billion from welfare which had helped the most vulnerable. NHS funding £125Billion, a year, has decreased.

    The Police have wasted more public monies on the illegal probes. Not following proper procedure. Innocent until proved guilty. No proof of any misdemeanour. Arresting without charge. Instead of investigating.

    Rangers fiasco, Salmond trial, campervan chaos. A total waste of public monies That could have been better spent. Arrested without investigating. Wasting £millions more., illegally. Police budget £1.55Billion. Masonics. Swear allegiance under the Official Secrets Act to the Westminster Gov. Westminster Gov agents. Leslie Evans etc. Appointed to unionism. Corrupt and decaying Westminster Gov

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  7. O/T Whilst looking around the Electoral Commission’s website I spotted this. You may find it interesting especially if like me you were unaware!

    Source: Electoral Commission, 18 September 2023: ‘Urgent reforms needed to fill the gaps in Scotland’s electoral registers’ (https://www.electoralcommission.org.uk/media-centre/urgent-reforms-needed-fill-gaps-scotlands-electoral-registers )

    ‘Up to one million people in Scotland are either incorrectly registered to vote or missing completely, according to research published today by the Electoral Commission. The research found that young people, private renters and those who have recently moved home continue to be less likely to be correctly registered to vote.

    ‘This means that nearly ONE FIFTH (19%) OF THE ELIGIBLE VOTING POPULATION IN SCOTLAND MAY NOT BE ABLE TO VOTE IF AN ELECTION WAS CALLED NOW.’ (my emphasis)

    And: ‘The Commission is calling on the Scottish and UK governments to pass legislation to create clear legal gateways for government departments and public bodies to share data on potentially eligible voters with electoral administrators. This would enable them to register voters directly, or to send them invitations to register. A consistent approach between both governments would ensure changes are developed and delivered in a way that voters can be accurately included in the registers for all types of elections they are eligible to vote in.’

    The full report of the EC’s review of ‘Electoral registers in the UK’ finds that the register in Scotland is 81% complete – down from 85% in 2015 – whilst in the other parts of Great Britain the figure is 86-87%. Across the UK, age and duration at address were the variables most strongly associated with differences in completeness.

    In the age group 18-25:
    – in England ‘completeness’ in 2018 was 72% and in 2022, 70%
    – in Scotland ‘completeness’ in 2018 was 68% and in 2023 also 68%.
    – in Wales, for the same age group, ‘completeness’ has risen from 66% in 2018 to 79% in 2022.

    What’s been done in Wales?

    There is a lot more detail to be found in the EC’s report.

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  8. Cambridge Analytica. Gerrymandering. Corruption. Breaking data protection Act To falsely swing elections. Electoral fraud. Total fraud and corruption. Brexit Hedge funds betting making £Millions.

    Polling companies breaking the electoral rules. Manipulating and getting data wrong to make money. The abuse of the electoral system. A small fine. No one went to jail. The biggest fraud not investigated properly. Using Facebook etc with illegally acquired data, for fund Hedge funds, politicians and their associates to commit fraud. Mone etc corruption of Westminster Gov. Misappropriating and misusing public funding.

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  10. More on Electoral Commission (EC) investigations of registered political parties and campaigning organisations. Its website catalogues its investigations conducted during the period from April. 2020 to 19 December 2023. It lists c.173 investigations.

    The SNP appears just once, in the list for the period 2021-22. The investigation was into late reporting of donations. THE INVESTIGATION FOUND THAT NO OFFENCE HAD BEEN COMMITTED: ‘The party appeared to have reported two donations late. However, the Commission’s investigation determined that the two payments were not donations and were therefore not reportable.’

    In sharp contrast, the EC over the period since April 2020 has concluded that numerous offences have been committed by UK political parties:

    Tory Party = c. 14 offences mostly due to late reporting of donations.

    This is one notable example of a Tory party offence: ‘Conservative and Unionist Party (GB) (registered political party)’ – ‘Failing to deliver accurate quarterly donation report; failing to keep accurate accounting records’ – ‘Offence and contravention of a prescribed requirement. Penalties totalling £17,800 (£16,250 and £1,550 Variable Monetary Penalties). Paid on 29 December 2021.’

    Labour Party and its constituency associations = c.15 separate offences, mostly concerned with late reporting of donations.

    One notable example from past 12 months: Labour Party (registered political party)’ – ‘failure to report six donations by due date’ – ‘3 x £200 penalties, paid on 13 April 2023’.

    Lib Dems = c. 7 separate offences, mostly concerned with late reporting.

    One notable example from the past c. 12 months: ‘Liberal Democrats (registered political party)’ – ‘Failure to report 21 donations by due date. Failure to report two new loans and four changes to existing loans by due date’ – ‘£3,300.00 total penalties, 4 x £200 Fixed Monetary Penalties, 9 x Variable Monetary Penalties (4 x £250 and 5 x £300) Paid on 15 August 2023’.

    Source: https://www.electoralcommission.org.uk/political-registration-and-regulation/our-enforcement-work/investigations

    None of the above is ‘newsworthy’ of course!

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