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Sir Keir Starmer ended the Labor Party conference in Liverpool on Wednesday by belting out the socialist anthem “Red Flag” on the main stage.
Opposition parties are courting millionaires behind the scenes in what is expected to be Britain’s most expensive ever election next year.
Rishi Sunak’s Conservative government plans to increase the national election spending cap by almost 85% to around £35m, putting pressure on Labor to step up fundraising efforts from corporate backers .
“The Conservatives won’t do it unless they think it will give them an advantage,” Labour’s campaign director Pat McFadden told the Financial Times. “We take fundraising very seriously and we will do our best.”
Labor officials believe three individuals will each pledge £5m to the party ahead of the election, a move that would mark a major shift in the opposition’s reliance on union donations.
Meanwhile, Labor has been using its annual conference, which is rife with optimism that the party is taking power, to court other business supporters. Shadow chancellor Rachel Reeves held three meetings with donors alone during the four-day event.
The identities of two of three potential Labor “megadonors” are already known: Lord David Sainsbury, scion of the supermarket dynasty of the same name and a minister in the New Labor government of the 2000s , and Gary Lubner is the tycoon behind the auto glass business.
Sainsbury’s has donated £5m twice in the past 12 months. Lubner has donated more than £2.9 million since April 2022, and he said the total before the election could reach £5 million. The identity of a third potential multi-million pound donor has not yet been revealed.
Lubner revealed his decision to donate part of his fortune to the Labor Party in an interview with the Financial Times in June, when he was in Liverpool to see how his money was being spent.
“It was a great meeting and Kyle gave a great speech,” said the South African businessman. “It shows Labor is ready for government.”
Starmer’s success in purging former Labor leader Jeremy Corbyn of far-left supporters, coupled with his embrace of fiscal discipline and pro-business policies, saw hundreds of businessmen gather at the conference along the Mersey.
Green energy tycoon Dale Vince has told the Financial Times that he will make a generous donation to Labor in the run-up to the election, although he did not reveal the exact figure of the donation.
Vince, who previously funded Stop Oil, announced last week that he would cease financial support for the activist movement, calling it “pointless.”
Kevin Craig, founder of Communications Enterprise and a regular donor to the party, said: “Labour has shown that it understands that without successful businesses we have nothing in this country. It knows that business is not the enemy.
“I think there are more and more details about what the party will do,” Craig said. Earlier this year he made his largest ever donation of £100,000 and said he planned to make more donations where possible to help support the party’s digital campaign.
Parties with candidates in all 650 UK constituencies are currently capped at £19.5 million in general election spending, a cap that has been in place since 2000.
Upgrading minister Michael Gove revealed this summer that the government intended to raise the cap on election spending in line with inflation. The Bank of England estimates that £19.5 million in 2000 would be worth just over £35 million today.
Conservative officials are confident they can raise this new level of funding and say the cash will be spent on digital advertising and leaflets.
According to Tory insiders, the Prime Minister secured major commitments from donors at last week’s party conference in Manchester, with £500,000 having flowed into Tory coffers since then.
Earlier this year, the Conservative Party received its largest single donation since 2001, when Egyptian-born billionaire Mohamed Mansour donated £5 million. In the first half of this year, the Conservatives received £22.3 million.
Labour’s shadow minister insisted they were optimistic they could match the Conservatives’ fundraising efforts. Labor received £16.4m in the first six months of 2023. “We think we can go head-to-head with them,” said a party official.
Despite Labor’s optimism about the election, shadow work and pensions secretary Liz Kendall warned that a bigger swing than Tony Blair’s achieved in 1997 would be needed to achieve victory.
“Change is the last thing people believe in right now – you have to prove to people step by step that you can achieve that change,” she told the Financial Times. “There’s a difference between a by-election and an election. The public is so fickle and the Conservatives are vicious.”
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