Big Four Accountancy firms: Donations to UK political parties 2010-2015

This article is part of the Revolving Door project of Spinwatch.

This article is part of the Lobbying Portal, a sunlight project from Spinwatch.

During the Coalition Government, from May 2010 to May 2015, the 'Big Four' accountancy firms have donated huge amounts to the main three political parties - the Labour Party, Conservative Party and Liberal Democrats. These donations are predominately in the form of staff secondments, but also as cash donations, consultancy services, hospitality and hidden by the 'other' category.

Former Labour MP Austin Mitchell has claimed the Big Four are more powerful than government, when asked about it he said:

'They are so dominant in such big centres of power, that they permeate government by providing staff and transferring people over and recruiting the high-fliers from government for their own purposes. More powerful, well, that is kind of a bit boastful, but they are certainly very powerful.

'Their power has increased and ought to be diminished. I think it's a new sponsor of power, based on the self-interest of their partners.

'Governments give all sorts of concessions, like limited liability partnerships. They threatened to get by in the Channel Islands by emigrating the firms to Jersey. That decided the Labour government to give them limited liability partnerships, which prevents all the partners from losing their yachts and houses and big money in the event of a lawsuit against them.

'So they have already got major concessions from government and they are transacting a lot of government business when advisory government business comes their way. I think their power is a threat to the public sector'.

PwC

Conservative Party

Date	Amount	Nature/provision
10/05/2010	£4,329.00	Consultancy services
10/05/2010	£8,305.00	Staff costs

Liberal Democrats

Date	Amount	Nature/provision
30/09/2010	£5,825.00	Staff costs
31/12/2010	£24,852.00	Staff costs
31/03/2011	£24,852.00	Staff costs
30/06/2011	£38,281.00	Non-cash, other
30/06/2011	£20,137.00	Staff costs
30/09/2011	£6,879.00	Staff costs
31/12/2011	£14,811.00	Staff costs
31/12/2011	£5,050.00	Non-cash, other
31/03/2012	£14,534.00	Staff costs
30/06/2012	£28,417.00	Staff costs
30/09/2012	£26,224.00	Staff costs
30/09/2012	£14,138.00	Staff costs
31/12/2012	£3,216.00	Staff costs
31/12/2012	£25,894.00	Staff costs
31/12/2012	£1,772.00	Staff costs
31/03/2013	£3,101.00	Staff costs
31/03/2013	£3,330.00	Staff costs
31/03/2013	£28,306.00	Staff costs
30/06/2013	£28,753.00	Staff costs
30/09/2013	£21,155.00	Staff costs
31/12/2013	£21,022.00	Staff costs
12/03/2014	£3,101.00	Non-cash, other
31/03/2014	£15,936.00	Staff costs
30/06/2014	£48,069.00	Staff costs
30/09/2014	£67,997.00	Staff costs
15/10/2014	£7,500.00	Cash donation
31/12/2014	£19,448.00	Staff costs
31/12/2014	£20,601.00	Staff costs

Labour Party

Date	Amount	Nature/provision
01/06/2010	£9,500.00	Cash sponsorship
26/11/2010	£835.00	Hospitality
31/12/2010	£61,861.00	Staff costs
28/02/2011	£10,106.64	Staff costs
03/03/2011	£1,227.00	Cash sponsorship
06/06/2011	£30,000.00	Staff costs
30/09/2011	£81,315.00	Staff costs
04/01/2012	£59,976.00	Staff costs
12/06/2012	£106,130.00	Staff costs
05/11/2012	£88,060.00	Staff costs
25/03/2013	£54,432.00	Staff costs
15/11/2013	£61,220.00	Staff costs
01/04/2014	£32,670.00	Staff costs
18/07/2014	£57,078.00	Staff costs
21/11/2014	£386,605.00	Staff costs

KPMG

Conservative Party

Date	Amount	Nature/provision
30/03/2012	£19,500.00	Staff costs
30/06/2012	£12,000.00	Staff costs
30/09/2013	£1,223.50	Non-cash sponsorship
30/09/2013	£8,600.00	Staff costs
31/12/2013	£3,635.00	Staff costs
31/12/2014	£19,277.20	Staff costs

Liberal Democrats

Date	Amount	Nature/provision
30/06/2010	£9,000.00	Staff costs
30/09/2011	£17,000.00	Staff costs
31/12/2011	£9,154.00	Staff costs
31/03/2012	£22,000.00	Staff costs
30/06/2012	£22,000.00	Staff costs
30/09/2012	£19,000.00	Staff costs
31/12/2012	£22,000.00	Non-cash, other
30/09/2013	£10,975.00	Staff costs
31/12/2013	£5,452.00	Staff costs
31/03/2014	£8,560.00	Staff costs
30/06/2014	£8,560.00	Staff costs
30/09/2014	£13,085.00	Staff costs
31/12/2014	£12,375.00	Staff costs

Labour Party

Date	Amount	Nature/provision
07/05/2010	£8,300.00	Staff costs
30/09/2010	£5,875.00	Staff costs
18/10/2010	£740.00	Cash donation
31/12/2010	£17,625.00	Staff costs
31/03/2011	£17,625.00	Staff costs
30/06/2011	£17,625.00	Staff costs
14/09/2011	£1,200.00	Cash donation
30/09/2011	£17,625.00	Staff costs
28/06/2012	£8,500.00	Staff costs
31/12/2012	£3,833.00	Staff costs
31/03/2013	£11,650.00	Staff costs
30/06/2013	£11,650.00	Staff costs
30/09/2013	£41,650.00	Staff costs
31/12/2013	£30,000.00	Staff costs
31/03/2014	£30,000.00	Staff costs
30/06/2014	£38,875.00	Staff costs
30/09/2014	£54,019.00	Staff costs
31/12/2014	£1,575.00	Staff costs

Deloitte

Conservative Party

Date	Amount	Nature/provision
30/06/2010	£75,555.06	Staff costs
15/09/2010	£8,000.00	Cash donation

Liberal Democrats

Date	Amount	Nature/provision
30/09/2014	£20,000.00	Consultancy services

Labour Party

Date	Amount	Nature/provision
30/06/2014	£43,537.00	Staff costs
30/09/2014	£44,941.00	Staff costs
31/12/2014	£77,287.00	Staff costs

EY

Conservative Party

Date	Amount	Nature/provision

Liberal Democrats

Date	Amount	Nature/provision

Labour Party

Date	Amount	Nature/provision

Resources

• Electoral Commission Search the register.
• Carlos Martin Tornero, Labour to win, if Big Four donation patterns become self-fulfilling prophecy The Accountant, 5 May 2015.
• Maeve McClenaghan, How ‘big four’ get inside track by loaning staff to government Bureau of Investigative Journalism, 10 July 2012.