Parties' spending is revealed but donors stay secret
SINN Fein generated almost three times more money than its political rivals last year and outspent them twice over, party accounts reveal.
The financial picture for the DUP is less rosy, having brought in the least of the province's four main parties, posting a loss of 130,000, according to the Electoral Commission.
Sinn Fein's annual income was just under 1.2 million in 2009 – the year of the European election campaign – streets ahead of second placed SDLP with around 400,000. However, the SDLP spent 100,000 more than it raised and will also face a fine for not providing an auditor's report with its accounts.
Sinn Fein, whose elected representatives donate a proportion of their wages into the coffers, spent around 6,000 more than it brought in.
It also emerged yesterday that the Northern Ireland Office has extended the exemption which allows Northern Ireland's political parties to conceal who funds them.
In the rest of the UK, parties are forced to disclose the names of who gives them large donations, in an attempt to reduce the potential for corruption in politics.
But in Northern Ireland there has long been an exemption to the transparency rule, amid fears of intimidation for party donors.
The accounts published yesterday showed that the DUP spent 480,000 while it only generated 350,000.
Buoyed by a series of big donations following its alliance with the Conservative party, the UUP was the only party to stay in the black – generating 390,000 and spending 357,000.
In recent years the party has struggled financially but the Tory link and the sale of a portion of its former east Belfast headquarters, Cunningham House, have improved its financial position.
Seamus Magee, head of the Electoral Commission's Northern Ireland office, said: "Being able to view the accounts of a political party is particularly important in Northern Ireland as it is the only source of information for anyone wishing to find out more about a political party's finances."
An NIO spokesman said that parliament had recently passed legislation to extend the "current confidentiality agreements" about party funding until March 1, 2011, to allow "full public consultation on the issue".
Email to a friend
Print this page
Looking for...
Featured advertisers
Jobs
Search for a job
Motors
Search for a car
Property
Search for a house
Weather for Belfast
Tuesday 14 February 2012
Today
Cloudy
Temperature: 6 C to 9 C
Wind Speed: 17 mph
Wind direction: North west
Tomorrow
Cloudy
Temperature: 5 C to 10 C
Wind Speed: 17 mph
Wind direction: North west
