Lord Sainsbury has given millions to Labour

A donation of �2.5m to the Labour Party from Science Minister Lord Sainsbury tops the list of gifts to political parties published on Tuesday.

The latest details of party political donations have been released, with Labour coining in nearly �5.5m in the first three months of this year.

Donations which Labour previously failed to declare totalling �61,381 were included in the party's latest returns.

They were well ahead of the Conservatives who declared just over �2m.

Britain's third party, the Liberal Democrats, were given �281,817.

The new People's Alliance received �127,923 and the Scottish Nationalists �96,417.

Trade union backing?

The figures, published by the Electoral Commission, show that Labour still gets a good deal of support from its traditional allies in the trade union movement.

Public sector workers' union Unison gave �348,125 despite some pretty big political differences over issues like using private finance to upgrade public services.

The Transport and General Workers Union gave more than �250,000.

The Fire Brigades Union gave Labour more than �12,000 despite their on-going dispute with the government over pay.

There were also some substantial individual donations declared but none that could compete with the scale of that given by Lord Sainsbury.

Overdraft

His latest gift, first announced in April, brings his donations to Labour since 1999 up to �8.5m.

Since the last election Labour has had a �6m overdraft to cope with and a �4.5m mortgage on its new London headquarters.

The Tories have received a raft of individual donations with some larger gifts from companies.

For example �105,000 was given by conference company IIR.

The register shows the annual Winterball raised the Conservatives �115,529.

The Liberal Democrats received some larger donations - for example �125,000 from the Sir Joseph Rowntree Reform Trust.

Smaller parties

But the party's main donations are individual gifts ranging up to about the �10,000 mark.

Smaller organisations such as the Co-operative Party received �63,087.

Plaid Cymru received �16,810, the Green Party in England and Wales was given �11,000.

For the same period in 2002, a total of �6,690,256 was reported to the commission.

A total of 70 registered parties failed to submit returns at all but the commission said that almost all were small organisations which were not expected to have donations to declare.

Commission chairman Sam Younger said: "We are currently reviewing the obligation placed on small parties to submit 'nil' donation reports each quarter.

"This requirement places a considerable burden on small parties, which many regard as unreasonable given the unlikelihood of them receiving donations that have to be declared to the Commission.

"However, while the requirements remain we shall continue to take whatever steps are necessary to ensure reports are submitted on time by all parties."