By politics.co.uk staff

The Electoral Commission has criticised political parties for declaring their donations late.

The Tories reported £637,069 in the last quarter of 2009 which should have been revealed earlier, while Labour and the Lib Dems also made unpunctual declarations.

They were joined by Ukip and the Green party, leading the commission to express disappointment.

But the other parties’ sums were dwarfed by the Tory donation.

The Lib Dems were responsible for £29,126, Ukip for £14,635, the Green party for £10,000 and Labour for £6,135 in late declarations.

That trend was reflected in the amount parties received. The Tories were given twice as much as Labour in the final quarter of 2009, with reported gifts of £10.48 million against Labour’s £4.96 million.

The Lib Dems received £1.06 million.