Sinn Fein top earner for donations

All political parties are required to record the donations and loans they receive over the value of £500 to the Electoral Commission.

The total donations reported to nine parties — the DUP, UUP, Alliance, SDLP, Sinn Fein, People Before Profit, Green Party, Conservative Party and the TUV — amounted to £344,278.

Sinn Fein received the highest amount at £125,535, followed by the DUP at £113,413.

Donations to the two largest parties were far in excess of the other seven combined.

The Alliance Party were in third with reported donations of £25,604, followed by the Ulster Unionist Party with £23,237.

The SDLP reported donations of £19,360, the Greens reported £11,655, People Before Profit reported £10,723, the Conservatives reported £7,920 and Traditional Unionist Voice reported £6,831.

The Electoral Commission said one party, the Veterans and People’s Party, failed to meet the deadline for reporting donations and loans for this quarter.

A spokesperson said: “The Commission will consider this matter in line with its Enforcement Policy and publish any sanctions applied at a later date.”

Ann Watt, Head of the Electoral Commission in Northern Ireland, said: “The political party donations and loans data that we have published allows voters to clearly see how parties in Northern Ireland are funded. This transparency helps to enhance public confidence and trust in our democratic process.”