The Conservative party has embarked upon a fundraising drive among its wealthiest donors with the aim of raising £19m for the general election. The move follows concerns that the party’s income has dipped sharply since the EU referendum because pro-remain donors and friends of David Cameron are keeping their cheque books shut.



A financier and a plumbing magnate who has been hostile to Theresa May are among the party’s former backers who have been asked this week to hand over large sums.



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Since the referendum, quarterly donations to the party have fluctuated, from £4.4m in the second quarter of 2016 to £2.9m in quarter three to £3.7m in the final three months of the year, according to official figures.



Charlie Mullins, the founder of the London-based firm Pimlico Plumbers, who donated about £50,000 under Cameron’s party leadership, said he was approached by the party on Tuesday.



“They want us to financially support them, but I don’t think we are prepared to. And its big money they need – £19m for the election,” he said. “My name had come up when they were looking for big donations. I don’t know why it is £19m; I think it’s all about the advertising campaign and the short time to raise some money.”

Mullins, who helped to fund the legal challenge of Brexit headed by Gina Miller and recently claimed that May would not last two years in office, said he wanted the Conservatives to win the election, but planned to support individual MPs, not the party. “My general take on it now is that I am not going to care about who was remain and who was leave. I just want to make sure that the Conservatives get in because they are best for the country,” he said.



Another donor, who works in the City and has not given to the party since 2015, said he was called last week and was asked to give a “substantial amount”.

“I told them ‘maybe’, but my connection to the party was through friends who are no longer there since Theresa May came to power,” he said. “I don’t know the new people, and so it feels more like a formal proposition than dealing with people you know.”

One of the party’s newest fundraisers is Stuart Marks, a tech entrepreneur who has worked with a series of startup companies. Marks has given the party more than £126,000, personally and through his company L Marks.

The Cheshire-based businessman has helped set up JLab, a collaboration with the retailer John Lewis, whose former managing director, Andy Street,is running to be the mayor of the West Midlands for the Conservatives.

A party official said that the loss of Lord Feldman as party treasurer had affected money coming into the party. “He knew his way around the City and could get people in to meet David [Cameron] at will. The current prime minister is much more wary and does not glad-hand,” the source said.

The party is also hindered in its fundraising efforts by the fact that opinion polls show it looks likely that May will beat Jeremy Corbyn’s Labour at a canter on 8 June. “If you are 20-plus points ahead, it is difficult to argue that money is needed,” the source said.

One major Tory donor said party fundraisers were using the prospect of Corbyn negotiating Brexit to ask for donations. “These are tough negotiations. They really are. You need someone of Churchillian status, and Theresa May might not even be that,” said the donor. “Is she the best person in the world to negotiate this? Well, of course she’s not. If we lived in a parallel universe, we’d have the best business negotiator in the world, but it doesn’t work like that and a politician has to negotiate.”

In contrast with the Conservatives, Labour’s finances are relatively healthy following an influx of more than 500,000 members. In 2015, the party paid off its debt and has consistently raised more than the Conservatives since March 2016, according to Electoral Commission records.

Political parties are able to spend £30,000 for every seat they contest during the regulated period. The Conservatives are likely to contest almost all the 650 seats, which means it can spend up to £19.5m during the regulated period.

In the final stages of the 2015 general election, the Conservatives spent £15.6m in two weeks, while the Labour party spent £12.1m, the Liberal Democrats £3.5m, Ukip £2.9m and the remaining parties less than £1.5m.



A breakdown of the figures shows that spending on advertising by all the largest political parties fell from a high of £16.1m in 2005 to £9.4m in 2010 and a little less than £7m in 2015, while spending on mailshots and market research rose from £12.3m in 2005 to £22.1m in 2015.

A Conservative spokesman declined to comment upon the £19m figure. “All donations to the Conservative party are properly and transparently declared to the Electoral Commission, published by them, and comply fully with the law,” he said.