Dramatic turnaround in the UUP's finances
THE UUP has slashed £100,000 from its annual costs and cut its debt by £300,000, the party's accounts will tomorrow reveal.
A copy of the accounts – obtained by the News Letter prior to their publication by the Electoral Commission tomorrow – show that the party has stemmed what were massive, and mounting, losses.
However, the accounts only cover the party's central operation and it is understood that millions of pounds are held by constituency associations across the Province, often in the form of property.
The party again made a loss last year – falling 14,230 short of breaking even – but it was a dramatically improved financial performance from the previous year when more than 400,000 was lost.
The decision to move out of the party's former headquarters, Cunningham House, to smaller premises on the Albertbridge Road is one of the key reasons for the financial recovery.
UUP treasurer Mark Cosgrove, who took over the role last year from Lord Maginnis, said that Cunningham House had become "far too big" for the handful of staff who did not transfer to Stormont on the restoration of devolution in 2007.
In December the party sold a 20 per cent stake in the building for more than 300,000 – valuing it at about 1.6 million, the property market's collapse dropping the price from a once estimated 2.5 million.
The Holywood Road premises is now rented out by a limited liability partnership, which administers it on behalf of both the party and the owner of the 20 per cent stake.
It is understood that the rates bill alone for the building had been costing the party about 30,000 a year.
Unlike 2007, the party took out no new loans during 2008 and repaid 90,590 of its existing loans.
The party's 2007 debt of more than a million pounds was cut to just over 700,000 during 2008.
The party also saved a considerable sum because no major elections were held during 2008 – the previous year 273,449 was spent on the Assembly election.
The accounts also reveal that the party receives a substantial percentage of its income from its members.
Party members – who are understood to number about 3,000 – and councillors contributed 263,185, a slight increase on the previous year.
Since the 2005 Westminster election, where the party's vote imploded leaving it with just one MP, the UUP has found itself without hundreds of thousands of pounds in public money which parties with more than one MP receive.
Mr Cosgrove, a successful businessman who is also a Carrickfergus councillor, said: "This has been a tremendous effort by our members to make sure the Ulster Unionist Party remains competitive during challenging times for the party."
And Mr Cosgrove said that the accounts disproved DUP allegations that his party had entered its electoral pact with the Conservatives for financial reasons.
"This result has been achieved before our negotiations with the Conservative Party were concluded and reflect what I've said all along – no mechanism exists within the agreement between our two parties for the Conservative Party to fund the UUP in an shape or form, nor would we wish to create any."
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Tuesday 29 May 2012
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