Esther Giles reports to Labour Hub – 3rd November 2025
Esther Giles drills deep into Labour’s latest Accounts.
In the narrative to follow, I will set out the 2024 Labour Party Finances reported in the Annual Report of Labour Party 2025. These are the most astonishing set of accounts yet.
In 2024 the Labour Party reported a deficit of £3.76m compared with a deficit of £0.85m in 2023. Behind this figure is a dramatic increase to (specifically individual and corporate) donations of £22.9m and an increase to running costs of £6.2m. Campaign costs were their highest ever at £27m.
Crucially, net assets are at their lowest level since 2014, being just £2.4m.
The auditors gave the Party a clean bill of financial health and agreed with its going concern assumption.
The balance sheet value (net assets) has deteriorated further compared with the previous year, with net assets now at only £2.4m. This is very low compared with Running Costs of £52m.
The Balance Sheet values from 2010 to 2024 are shown here. Whilst the Party has not been in debt since 2015, its Reserves are at the lowest level since 2012.
Total Income was £90.7m; the highest ever reported. Membership income has increased further to £18.3m. Donated Income (cash) has increased markedly to £39m, (the highest level recorded), with the most dramatic increase being in company donations (up by £9m to £11.4m). Commercial activity has also improved by £6m to its highest level ever of £13.5m.
The cash and non-cash donated resources to the Labour Party in 2024 were at the highest level ever- and 30% higher than the Tories. Here you can see the total donated resources to each main Party over time.
Membership income increased materially from 2015 onwards, reaching its peak of £19.3m in 2020. It has now nearly returned to that level, at £18.3m. However, the overall profile of income is very different in 2024 compared with 2020. Then, membership income was 3.4*donated income. Now it is half of donated income.
From 2022 onwards, UK Labour showed an increase in its dependence on donations from individuals and companies to secure its financial position* and this has continued into 2024. This is a more precarious way of sustaining healthy finances (because donations are, by their nature, non-recurrent). Based on electoral commission data, the proportion of individual donated income (excluding government grants) was 41%, and from Companies 29%, the highest combined proportion (70%) reported in this time series. Trade Union Donations have fallen to the smallest % in the series, at 28%.
Notional (broadly non-cash) donations also increased dramatically to over £3m compared with a mean of £0.5m 2019-2023.
Individuals donated just over £1m in non-cash resources.
Corporations donated £1.3m and LLPs £0.54m in non-cash resources. The latter included three of the ‘big five’ accountancy firms.
This chart shows the absolute value of individual donations recorded on the electoral commission database and demonstrates that individual donations, at £14m (cash donations) are higher than ever previously reported. During the Blair-Brown years, individual donations were up to £8m (in 2005, the year of Blair’s election for his third term).
The highest three cash donors contributed £6.7m.
David Sainsbury, Martin Taylor and Garry Lubner deserve special mention.
Sainsbury has donated a total of £32m cash to political parties since 2010. Of this, £10.2m was to Labour and £11.7m to the Conservatives. In 2023 he donated to both Conservative (£10.2m) and Labour (£3m). In 2024 he donated only to Labour.
Martin Taylor made his single largest donation (£2.8m) to Labour in 2024 and has given a total of £3.9m. Gary Lubner has stated that he wants Labour in power for a long time and has donated £6.5m to Labour up to 2024.
This chart shows the absolute value of company donations recorded on the electoral commission database and demonstrates that these donations, at £10m are very materially higher than ever previously reported. The top corporations donating are Quadrature and Ecotricity.
Quadrature is a trading company which trades in arms. Its donation of £4m was the largest single donation in political history but was not declared until after the election.
Overall expenditure was £94.5m – its highest ever by far. Its campaign spending was also the highest ever (£27m), as were running costs.
- Staff related costs increased by £3.2m, having increased by £4.3m in the previous year, and are now at the highest level ever. Finance, IT and comms costs increased by a further £1.4m having increased by £1.5m in the previous year.
- The number of staff employed in December 2024 was 194, below the average for the year, suggesting substantial staff reductions following the election. There were redundancy costs of £1.8m.
- Building and premises decreased by £1.8m compared with 2023.
- Admin costs total £2.2m – the same as the previous year. We don’t know what is included in this figure.
- Senior management costs increased further to £1.35m. In 2020, Senior management costs were £0.53m.
Membership and Affiliate income now covers only 45% of running costs, indicating increased dependency on non-recurrent sources.
The overall movements in the financial position in 2024 compared with 2023 are shown in this chart.
The Party has succeeded in expending its revenue income streams away from dependence on membership and affiliate income. However, this income cannot be relied upon from year to year as the variation in corporate and individual donations year by year demonstrates.
The Balance sheet is not strong, with net assets covering less than a month’s running costs (using 2024 year-end figures).
So, the overall picture is one of dramatic expansion and funding and electoral success, but a precarious balance sheet and overwhelming and unprecedented reliance on individual and corporate funding.
Esther Giles is an economist by education and a public finance accountant by profession, and is a treasurer and trustee for a number of local, national and international charity and community organisations.