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Labour, the Party of Capital?
Analysing business donations to UK political parties in the run-up to UK general elections.
19th February 2026
REPORT | Will Stronge, Sonia Balagopalan
Report summary:
This paper analyses business (corporate) donations to UK political parties in the year preceding recent general elections, using data provided by the Electoral Commission. The focus is on absolute changes, percentage changes, and the evolving role of business funding – particularly in relation to the Labour Party.
Key findings:
• The 2024 election cycle marks a clear shift towards a more business‑funded pre‑election environment overall, even as total donations decline in real terms compared with 2019.
• Labour has experienced a step change in both total fundraising and business donations between 2019 and 2024 elections, with business funding rising from a marginal component of Labour’s pre‑election finances to a substantial share.
• While the Conservatives remain the single largest recipient of business donations, their overall and corporate fundraising declined between 2019 and 2024 election periods, narrowing historic differences between the two major parties.
Overall donations:
• Total donations (all parties): fell from £177.39m (2019) to £156.27m (2024), a decline of £21.12m (-11.9%).
• Business donations (all parties): rose from £32.01m (2019) to £45.61m (2024), an increase of £13.60m (+42.5%).
• As a result, the corporate share of pre-election funding increased from 18.0% (2019) to 29.2% (2024) – the highest level observed in the series.
Labour Party donations:
• Labour’s total pre-election fundraising: increased from £38.11m (2019) to £64.47m (2024), an increase of £26.36m (+69.2%), making 2024 Labour’s highest total in the inflation-adjusted series provided.
• Business donations to Labour: rose from £0.80m (2019) to £14.37m (2024), an increase of £13.58m (+1,707%).
• Business funding as a share of Labour’s total: increased from approximately 2.1% to 22.3%, representing a step-change in the composition of Labour’s election-period funding.
• Labour out-raised the Conservatives in total pre-election fundraising in 2024 (£64.47m vs £54.23m), while the gap in business funding narrowed substantially.
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