Political parties fail to reveal finances

The parties which were late with submissions will be fined

Wednesday, 28, May 2008 12:00

The Electoral Commission has rounded on a handful of political parties for not revealing their financial accounts to the watchdog in time.

"We are disappointed to see that some parties have not returned their accounts to us within the deadline," said Lisa Klein, director of party and election finance at the Commission.

"The late submission of accounts is a serious matter and where parties have failed to meet the statutory deadline we will be imposing civil penalties."

Twenty parties were late with their submission, and will be charged £500 each.

The Electoral Commission published the financial accounts of UIK political parties with an annual income or expenditure of £250,000 or less today.

Of the 227 parties mentioned, only eight have spent between £100,000 and £250,000, including the Communist party of Great Britain, Respect, the Scottish Green party and Solidarity.

"Transparency of party finance is vital to the integrity of the democratic process," Ms Klein added.