Parties given £16.7m in donations

Donations were the highest ever for a non-election quarter

Political parties received £16.7m in donations in the final quarter of last year, the Electoral Commission says.

This is the third-highest amount ever, beaten only in the periods leading up to the 2001 and 2005 general elections.

The Conservative Party was given £9.8m between 1 October and 31 December 2007, while Labour received £5.5m.

The Liberal Democrats received £947,000, followed by the Scottish National Party on £144,000, the commission reported.

And other parties were given a total of £337,000.

The most ever given to political parties in a three-month period was £20.6m between January and April 2005.

The next highest figure was £18.5m in the first three months of 2001.

Late declarations

Meanwhile the commission has criticised Nick Clegg for the late declaration of two donations to his successful campaign to be the Liberal Democrats' leader.

He was given £10,000 and £5,000 but did not notify the commission within 30 days, as required.

Conservative MP and London mayoral candidate Boris Johnson also failed to declare £45,000 in time.

He received £25,000 from Tory peer Lord Laidlaw for his mayoral campaign, plus £20,000 from the company Buster Burke, towards the cost of a research assistant in his office in his Henley constituency office.

The constituency party of Conservative leader David Cameron - in Witney in Oxfordshire - was criticised for being nearly two years late in declaring a donation of £1,500 from February 2006.

David Willetts, the shadow education secretary, declared five gifts after the period allowed, while Labour backbencher Derek Wyatt was late in telling the commission about six, including one from January 2006.

In all, eight Labour MPs and nine Conservative MPs failed to register donations properly, along with four Liberal Democrat MPs and one from Plaid Cymru.

Commission powers

Among MEPs, one Labour member and one Tory were late in notifying the commission, and one Conservative prospective parliamentary candidate also fell foul of the rules.

Electoral Commission chief executive Peter Wardle has written to all party treasurers about late reporting of donations.

Labour has declared more than £2.9m of donations late since the new rules came into force in 2001, the Tories £1 m - and the Lib Dems £387,000

Mr Wardle said: "The requirement for parties to report donations and loans to the Commission is fundamental in ensuring transparency in our democracy.

"It is unacceptable that major political parties continue to report donations and loans late.

"We continue to call on government and the UK Parliament for a more flexible and effective range of penalties and we are pressing for legislation to strengthen the regulatory framework so we have the tools to deal with late reporting."