Conservative donors gave Theresa May a record £24.8 million to fight the snap election earlier this year, it has emerged, almost £2 million for every seat the party eventually lost.

Donations for the quarter ahead of the election hit a record of £40 million and the Tories raised over half of that, the Electoral Commission has revealed.

Almost £25 million was given to Theresa May's party during the three months before the vote, in which she would go on to lose 13 seats.

The second biggest quarter for donations to the party was in the first half of 2015, just before the general election which handed David Cameron a majority.