Election 2005: campaign spending - Electoral Commission

24third parties that had reported controlledexpenditure to the Commission for the 2004election. For these third parties, the regulatedperiod ran from 11 February 2004 to 5 May2005 and they were required to report their totalcontrolled expenditure incurred during this period.3.4 In practice this affected only three third parties:• Searchlight Information Services Ltd• UNISON – The Public Services Union and• Unite Against FascismFor all other recognised third parties, the regulatedperiod ran from 6 May 2004 to 5 May 2005.Registration3.5 Third parties that intend to spend over£10,000 in England or over £5,000 in any ofScotland, Wales or Northern Ireland during aregulated period must submit a notification tothe Commission to be included on the registerof recognised third parties before spendingover these amounts. Once registered, thirdparties are required to submit a controlledexpenditure return to the Commission reportingwhat they spent during the election. To fundtheir campaign, third parties may only acceptdonations from permissible donors and theyare required to report all donations receivedfor this purpose to the Commission.3.6 At the time of the 2005 general election, 26recognised third parties were registered withthe Commission. This represented a substantialincrease over 2001 when 10 such third partieswere on the register at the time of that year’sgeneral election.Third party spending3.7 The Commission received controlledexpenditure returns from 25 recognised thirdparties, including one return that reported nospending. Alliance – The Alliance Party of NorthernIreland was also a recognised third party at thetime of the 2005 general election, but was notrequired to submit a controlled expenditure returnbecause they contested seats at the electionas a registered political party and thereforesubmitted a campaign expenditure return.Spending reported3.8 Spending reported by third parties isdetailed in Appendix D. No third parties cameclose to their spending limit, which was almost£1 million. 9 Controlled expenditure variedgreatly, ranging from £225 to almost £700,000.3.9 The spending by third parties in the UK asa whole and in each part of the UK in 2001 and2005 is compared in Figure 5. Where returnswere submitted in respect of the combinedregulated period, only spending which relatesto the 2005 election is included in the tablesand figures in this section. The 2001 figuresare not adjusted for inflation.3.10 It should be noted that the regulated periodfor the general election was longer in 2005 (365days), as compared with 2001 (111 days).Additionally, the three third parties that producedelection material for the 2004 EuropeanParliamentary elections were operating under acombined regulated period as described above.9 Third parties that had campaigned at the 2004European Parliamentary elections were subjectto a combined limit of almost £1.2 million.Elections 2005: campaign spending: controlled spending by third parties