Labour Now Takes More Money From Companies Than From Unions

Labour took more money from corporations – many owned by a single ultra-wealthy individual – than from unions ahead of the last general election for the first time ever, new analysis has found.

The figures, compiled by Democracy for Sale using Electoral Commission data, mark yet another milestone in the party’s decades-long departure from its working-class roots.

The party was founded in 1900 by trade unions and socialist groups, but in the year ahead of the 2024 election that brought Keir Starmer to power, it took £13.3m in corporate donations, more than the £10.6m it received from all trade unions combined.

The analysis points to a broader trend of extremely rich people dominating political donations in the UK in recent years.

“This surge in ‘corporate’ money is not a story about big business backing political parties,” Democracy for Sale’s Lucas Amin and Peter Geoghegan wrote.

“Almost none of the funding came from Britain’s major listed companies or FTSE 500 firms. Instead, it was driven by companies controlled by super-wealthy individuals, small and opaque firms that file minimal financial information, and businesses ultimately owned by foreign nationals who could not legally donate in their own name,” they added.

Just five companies gave over £27m to Labour and the Conservatives in the year before the 2024 election.

Overall, political donations from companies tripled over the last three general elections, the Democracy for Sale analysis found.

Across all parties and politicians, companies gave more than £42m in the year leading up to the 2024 election, almost double the £21.5m donated ahead of the 2019 election and triple the £14m donated before the 2017 election.

Earlier this month, the UK fell to record lows in Transparency International’s global corruption perception index, with the report’s authors citing the increasing presence of wealthy donors in British politics as one reason for the fall.

The political donations referenced in Democracy for Sale’s analysis are entirely legal and there is no suggestion of any wrongdoing.

Last week, the Guardian reported that Labour’s new elections bill would end the use of “dodgy front companies” for political donations.