13 February 2014
Throughout their existence, Progress and Movement for Change have been committed to openness and transparency with regard to our funding and have supported and fully complied with the legislation introduced by the last Labour government requiring the registering of donations with the Electoral Commission.
In May 2013, Progress and Movement for Change reported to the Electoral Commission that, for a period between December 2011 and April 2013 during which we had been receiving donations from him, Lord Sainsbury had not been on the electoral register.
Lord Sainsbury was registered before and after this period, and was eligible to be on the register at all times. Progress and Movement for Change had registered all of the donations received from Lord Sainsbury during this period – totalling £390,000 in the case of the former and £344,939.60 in the case of the latter – with the Electoral Commission.
Following a thorough six-month investigation, the Electoral Commission concluded that the donations from Lord Sainsbury were impermissible and levied a penalty of £6,000 on Progress and £5,500 on Movement for Change. Both penalties have been paid in full.
We are grateful that the Electoral Commission has acknowledged that ‘both organisations had acted in good faith throughout’ and accepts that this was not ‘a deliberate attempt to evade the rules’. The Electoral Commission did not seek forfeiture of the donations.
Progress and Movement for Change fully accept that we made an administrative error when conducting permissibility checks on the donations from Lord Sainsbury. Progress believed that the Electoral Commission’s guidance that a check could be conducted by consulting ‘a register of peers maintained under Section 3 of the Representation of the People Act 1985’ was a reference to the register of peers maintained by the House of Lords. Movement for Change likewise believed that as a member of the House of Lords the donor continued to be registered at all times. This was a mistaken, though genuine, belief on our parts. Given our support for the regulatory regime, and recognition of the errors made on our parts, both organisations chose not to appeal the penalties.
We are pleased that the Electoral Commission has also recognised that both Progress and Movement for Change:
- voluntarily reported the issue to the Electoral Commission as soon as it came to light;
- had not accepted any donations after they became aware that the donor was not permissible;
- developed new compliance procedures for accepting donations as a result;
- cooperated fully and transparently with the Electoral Commission throughout.
We note that the Commission has only had the power to levy such penalties since December 2010, the penalty imposed in each case is well below the maximum fine of £20,000 and in a case involving impermissible donations of a similar level, Ukip was ordered to forfeit £14,481.