Public Health Announcement for Sefton Businesses

SEFTON Council is fully committed to supporting its communities and businesses to help control the spread and manage the impact of Coronavirus (Covid19). This includes enabling our economy to operate safely under restrictions. This can only happen if residents and businesses take their personal and collective responsibilities seriously. As you are aware, all businesses should be following setting specific national guidance to minimise the risks of Coronavirus (Covid19) transmission. In addition, new local Covid19 restrictions have been introduced in the North West. This means that in Sefton, from Tuesday, 22 September 2020, regulations now lawfully ban the following:-

►  Residents must not socialise with other people outside of their own households or support bubble in private homes and gardens.

►  Hospitality for food and drink will be restricted to table service only.

►  Late night restriction of operating hours will be introduced, with leisure and entertainment venues required to close between 10pm to 5am.

Residents are also advised to adhere to the following guidance to further reduce rates of infection:-

►  Residents should not socialise with other people outside of their own households in all public venues.

►  Residents are advised to only use public transport for essential purposes, such as travelling to school or work.

►  Holidays should be taken within your own household or support bubble.

►  Residents are advised against attending amateur and professional sporting events as spectators.

These local measures have been supplemented by revised central Government advice that was issued by the Prime Minister, on Tuesday, 22 September 2020. This includes the mandatory wearing of face coverings in pub or restaurant settings, except from when eating or drinking from 24 September 2020. The Government states that if you operate a business or organise events you should take steps to ensure people do not socialise with people they do not live with, in line with Covid19 secure guidance. Further information about the new restrictions can be found at:- Sefton.Gov.UK/Covid19.

THE financial accounts of political parties and accounting units in the United Kingdom, with income and expenditure of ₤250,000 or less, have been published, on 23 September 2020, by the Electoral Commission. The accounts are for the year ending 31 December 2019.

Louise Edwards, Director of Regulation, said:- "All political parties must keep financial records and submit annual statements of accounts to us. Publishing this data helps voters see political parties' income and what they're spending. This is an important part of delivering transparency in political finance in the UK, and in enhancing public confidence and trust in our democratic processes."

Party income and expenditure...

283 political parties in the United Kingdom reported their financial accounts as being within this threshold.

12 parties reported income or expenditure between ₤50,000 and ₤250,000:-

Party	Income	Expenditure
The For Britain Movement (GB)	₤194,915	₤205,115
Communist Party of Britain (GB)	₤157,109	₤139,893
SDLP (Social Democratic & Labour Party) (NI)	₤145,835	₤139,082
Ashfield Independents (GB)	₤121,126	₤103,983
Advance Together (GB)	₤105,826	₤92,623
Green Party (NI)	₤92,962	₤93,640
British National Party (GB)	₤88,874	₤128,600
Socialist Party (NI)	₤85,606	₤83,492
Upminster and Cranham Residents Association (GB)	₤73,637	₤71,908
Conservative and Unionist Party (NI)	₤66,276	₤66,476
Traditional Unionist Voice - TUV (NI)	₤50,972	₤50,327
People Before Profit Alliance (NI)	₤49

The full financial accounts for each of the 283 political parties with income and expenditure of ₤250,000 or less are available on the Commission's website.

Accounting unit income and expenditure...

Political parties may register:- 'accounting units' with the Electoral Commission. These are constituent or affiliated units of a political party, including constituency parties, which have separate finances from the main party.

586 accounting units in the UK reported income and expenditure between ₤25,000 and ₤250,000. In total, these accounting units reported ₤35,880,462 income and ₤33,347,811 expenditure.

31 accounting units reported an income or expenditure over ₤150,000. A further 53 reported income or expenditure between ₤100,000 and ₤150,000.

The 10 accounting units that reported the highest income and expenditure below ₤250,000:-

Party	Accounting unit	Income	Expenditure
Labour Party	Greenwich and Woolwich CLP	₤249,696	₤248,418
Conservative and Unionist Party	Richmond Park	₤240,140	₤228,888
Conservative and Unionist Party	Aylesbury	₤232,365	₤208,526
Liberal Democrats	Westminster Borough	₤230,802	₤216,972
Liberal Democrats	Hazel Grove	₤224,176	₤203,733
Democratic Unionist Party - D.U.P.	Westminster Parliamentary Party - MP Grouping	₤212,479	₤221,678
Conservative and Unionist Party	Rutland & Melton	₤209,356	₤108,106
Liberal Democrats	Oxford West and Abingdon	₤207,172	₤171,808
Liberal Democrats	Sheffield	₤206,146	₤200,866
Liberal Democrats	Cambridge	₤203,908	₤221,913

The financial accounts for all accounting units published today are available on the Commission's website.

Comparisons with previous years...

Below are the total sums of the financial accounts for political parties and their accounting units that fell under the ₤250,000 threshold in the 2 previous financial years:-

Political parties...	2017	2018	2019
Income	₤1,894,147	₤1,809,606	₤2,076,842
Expenditure	₤1,806,645	₤1,774,751	₤2,175,465

 

Accounting units...	2017	2018	2019
Income	₤33,235,366	₤21,591,161	₤35,880,462
Expenditure	₤30,533,621	₤21,204,528	₤33,347,811

Figures comparing the latest financial accounts for political parties and their accounting units with those for 2018 and 2017 provide a general comparison and do not necessarily compare the same parties and accounting units. The income and expenditure of parties and accounting units vary each year, so they may fall into different reporting thresholds.  

Late submissions...

Many parties have delivered their statement of accounts on time despite the current challenging circumstances caused by Covid19. 50 political parties that were expected to have income or expenditure under ₤250,000 have failed to submit their accounts. We recognise the impact that Covid19 has had on some parties' and accounting units' ability to meet the reporting deadline. Where parties and accounting units have delivered their accounts late for reasons relating to the pandemic, we will take full account of this in considering what, if any, action is appropriate and proportionate. Political parties and their accounting units with income or expenditure in 2019 of more than ₤250,000 had to submit their audited accounts by 7 July 2020. These will be published in due course.