Ten political parties registered in Great Britain reported accepting over £30.6 million in donations between 1 January and 31 March 2015, according to new figures published by the Electoral Commission, the independent party funding watchdog.

This is the largest total figure reported for any single quarter to date, since reporting became a requirement under the Political Parties, Elections and Referendums Act (2000).

For comparison, in the first quarter of 2010 and ahead of the last general election, fourteen political parties accepted £19.3 million. In quarter two of 2010, sixteen parties reported accepting £26.3 million. This quarter also saw over £10 million more reported than in the last quarter of 2014

The five political parties to report the most in donations were:

Conservative Party - £15,404,569

Labour Party - £9,334,757

Liberal Democrats - £3,007,691

Scottish National Party (SNP) - £1,055,250

UK Independence Party (UKIP) - £986,327

In addition to these donations, during the first quarter of 2015, six parties accepted a total of £2,366,125 from public funds.

The value of loans to political parties as at 31 March 2015 stood at £13,259,605.

This is an increase of £278,024 compared to the last quarter of 2014 where the value of loans stood at £12,981,581.

* A summary of donations reported in the first quarter of 2015, including the top donors, is available here: http://www.electoralcommission.org.uk/__data/assets/pdf_file/0015/190005...

Full details of donations and loans are available here: http://search.electoralcommission.org.uk/Search?currentPage=1&rows=20&so...

* A full analysis and breakdown of the figures for quarter one 2015 is available at: www.electoralcommission.org.uk/find-information-by-subject/political-par...

* The Electoral Commission http://www.electoralcommission.org.uk/

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