On 17 July 2025, the Electoral Commission published details of non-party campaign spending in the 2024 general election. Non-party campaign spending is more commonly known as ‘third-party’ campaign spending and the terms are used interchangeably in this post.
How is non-party spending regulated in the UK?
The Political Parties, Elections and Referendums Act 2000 stipulated that third parties spending over a certain threshold in elections (£20,000 in England and £10,000 in Northern Ireland, Scotland and Wales) are required to register with the Electoral Commission.
At time of publication there are 56 third parties in the Electoral Commission’s register of non-party campaigners. These include:
- individuals
- trade unions (for example, GMB)
- unincorporated associations (for example, MP Watch)
- companies (for example, Good Law Project)
- charitable incorporated organisations (for example, Help for Heroes)
Once a third party is registered, they become/it becomes regulated in a similar way to political parties. Following registration, third parties must only accept donations from permissible donors, as well as disclose donations over £7,500. These donation details are then made available on the Electoral Commission’s political finance online database.
Registered third parties are also subject to spending limits at elections. These limits vary depending on where in the UK a campaign runs. The Electoral Commission has produced detail guidance on the nuances of third-party spending limits.
In the 2024 general election, the UK-wide campaign spending limit for third parties was £702,130. The constituency-level spending limit for third parties was £17,553. Legal experts suggest that these spending limits permit “a significant level of third party activity”, but also that “political parties are the primary participants in election campaigns”.
There is a third limit on so-called “targeted spending”. According to Electoral Commission guidance, this is spending that is “aimed at promoting the electoral success of one particular registered party or any of its candidates”. In 2024, the targeted spending limit varied depending on whether it was in England (£58,654), Scotland (£6,157), Wales (£3,456) or Northern Ireland (£1,944).
How much did third parties spend in 2024 and 2019?
Third parties spent less in the 2024 general election than they did in the 2019 general election. Total reported third-party spending in 2024 was £2.6 million; in 2019 it was £6.2 million. Adjusted for inflation, third party spending in 2019 was £7.7 million.
In 2024, third-party spending represented 2.8% of all reported election spending (which, if you include candidate, party and third-party spending, was £94.5 million). In 2019, third-party spending represented 8.5% of all reported election spending.
The chart below shows third-party spending for every general election held since the Political Parties, Elections and Referendums Act was passed in 2000. It shows that the 2019 general election was a high watermark for third-party spending, and that third-party spending in the 2024 general election reverted to a level similar to elections before 2019.
What did third parties spend their money on in 2024 and 2019?
Spending for third parties is divided into six different categories:
- market research/canvassing
- media
- overheads and general administration
- rallies and other events
- third-party campaign material
- transport
The chart below shows reported third-party spending by these categories for 2019 and 2024. The chart illustrates that:
- Third-party campaign material and overheads and general administration account for the vast majority of third-party spending.
- Third-party campaign material is especially prevalent. In 2024, third-party campaign material accounted for 64% of total third-party spending. In 2019, this figure was higher, at 69%.
What is third-party campaign material?
Third-party campaign material encompasses everything from online advertising, general campaign support, printing leaflets and merchandise, and covering staffing costs.
Academics have said that the current spending categories “do not provide a full picture of election activity”. Some have recommended reading the invoices which are provided alongside all spending totalling over £200 to better understand spending.
If we conduct similar analysis and filter the data by “total amount” on the Electoral Commission website, the top 10 suppliers providing “third party campaign materials” are:
- Mi media, which conducted online advertising on behalf of UNISON (PDF)
- Eclectica, which provided data services and online advertising on behalf of the National Education Union (NEU; PDF)
- Small Axe Communications, which provided campaign support for the NEU (PDF)
- Solu4ions, which printed leaflets and banners on behalf of the NEU (PDF)
- Best for Britain (Payroll), which invoiced for various costs associated with running the Best for Britain third-party campaign (PDF)
- Outlandish Cooperative, which provided website services on behalf of the NEU (PDF)
- Reach Publishing Services Limited, which published newspaper adverts on behalf of the NEU (PDF)
- Meta, which provided social media advertising on behalf of the NEU (though the invoice is blank) (PDF)
- Corporate Recognition, which printed Union of Shop, Distributive and Allied Workers-branded carrier bags (PDF)
- Cruelty Free International, which invoiced for staffing costs for Cruelty Free International (PDF)
Which third parties spent the most money at the 2024 and 2019 general elections?
There were 20 third parties that reported spending at the 2024 general election, including six that reported spending over £100,000. The six third parties that spent over £100,000 collectively accounted for 90% of all reported third-party spending, and were:
- National Education Union: £618,000
- Best for Britain: £424,000
- UNISON: £394,000
- 38 Degrees: £207,000
- HOPE not Hate: £159,000
- Cruelty Free International: £109,000
There were 43 third parties that reported spending at the 2019 general election, including 21 that reported spending over £100,000. The top six third parties that spend over £100,000 were:
- National Education Union: £505,000
- Momentum: £501,000
- Jeremy Hosking: £484,000
- Led By Donkeys: £458,000
- Best for Britain: £423,000
- UNISON: £369,000
Further reading
This is the third in a series of Commons Library Insights which cover spending in the 2024 general election. The other two are:
About the author: Sam Power is a Parliamentary Academic Fellow working in the Parliament and Constitution Centre in the House of Commons Library, and Lecturer in Politics at the University of Bristol.
Image by: Bill Nicholls via Wikimedia Commons
