Published: August 26, 2015
Burnham-On-Sea’s MP reveals election campaign funding sources
Some of the huge amounts of money used to fight the General Election in the Burnham-On-Sea area have been revealed this week.
The town’s MP James Heappey has published the donations he received in the run-up to May’s election.
Mr Heappey has declared interests of £88,701, and the records show he was given substantial donations by organisations set up before the election to support would-be Conservative MPs.
They include the ‘No Balls Ball’, based in Wiltshire, which gave him £32,516. He was also given £15,000 by JCB, £28,685 from a group called ‘Fundraise for the Future’ which is based in Wells, and £9,500 from other trusts and campaign groups.
Former MP Tessa Munt declared £29,000 in gifts and in kind, including £20,000 from controversial peer Lord Oakeshott – and £6,000 in the form of an opinion poll that showed Ms Munt would have been more likely to win had Nick Clegg not been leader – a poll that led to Lord Oakeshott leaving the party.
The candidates’ full costs of running an election, in which they are allowed to spend around 7p per elector in their constituency between January and May of an election year, are due to be formally announced later in the year.
