Part IV Control of donations to registered parties and their members etc.

Chapter II Restrictions on donations to registered parties

Permissible donations

54 Permissible donors.

(1)

A donation received by a registered party must not be accepted by the party if—

(a)

the person by whom the donation would be made is not, at the time of its receipt by the party, a permissible donor; or

(b)

the party is (whether because the donation is given anonymously or by reason of any deception or concealment or otherwise) unable to ascertain the identity of that person.

(2)

For the purposes of this Part the following are permissible donors—

(a)

an individual registered in an electoral register;

(b)

a company—

(i)

F1registered under the Companies Act 2006, and

(ii)

incorporated within the United Kingdom F2...,

which carries on business in the United Kingdom;

(c)

a registered partyF3...;

(d)

a trade union entered in the list kept under the M1Trade Union and Labour Relations (Consolidation) Act 1992 or the M2Industrial Relations (Northern Ireland) Order 1992;

(e)

a building society (within the meaning of the M3Building Societies Act 1986);

(f)

a limited liability partnership registered under the M4Limited Liability Partnerships Act 2000 F4. . . which carries on business in the United Kingdom;

(g)

a friendly society registered under the M5Friendly Societies Act 1974 F5, a registered society within the meaning of the Co-operative and Community Benefit Societies Act 2014 or a society registered (or deemed to be registered) under the M6Industrial and Provident Societies Act (Northern Ireland) 1969; and

(h)

any unincorporated association of two or more persons which does not fall within any of the preceding paragraphs but which carries on business or other activities wholly or mainly in the United Kingdom and whose main office is there.

F6(2A)

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(3)

In relation to a donation in the form of a bequest subsection (2)(a) shall be read as referring to an individual who was, at any time within the period of five years ending with the date of his death, registered in an electoral register.

F7(3A)

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(4)

Where any person (“the principal donor”) causes an amount (“the principal donation”) to be received by a registered party by way of a donation—

(a)

on behalf of himself and one or more other persons, or

(b)

on behalf of two or more other persons,

then for the purposes of this Part each individual contribution by a person falling within paragraph (a) or (b) of more than F8£500 shall be treated as if it were a separate donation received from that person.

(5)

In relation to each such separate donation, the principal donor must ensure that, at the time when the principal donation is received by the party, the party is given—

(a)

(except in the case of a donation which the principal donor is treated as making) all such details in respect of the person treated as making the donation as are required by virtue of paragraph 2 F9or 2A of Schedule 6 to be given in respect of the donor of a recordable donation; and

(b)

(in any case) all such details in respect of the donation as are required by virtue of paragraph 4 of Schedule 6 to be given in respect of a recordable donation.

(6)

Where—

(a)

any person (“the agent”) causes an amount to be received by a registered party by way of a donation on behalf of another person (“the donor”), and

(b)

the amount of that donation is more than F10£500 ,

the agent must ensure that, at the time when the donation is received by the party, the party is given all such details in respect of the donor as are required by virtue of paragraph 2 F9or 2A of Schedule 6 to be given in respect of the donor of a recordable donation.

(7)

A person commits an offence if, without reasonable excuse, he fails to comply with subsection (5) or (6).

(8)

In this section “electoral register” means F11...—

(a)

a register of parliamentary or local government electors maintained under section 9 of the Representation of the M7People Act 1983;

F12(b)

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F12(c)

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