Financing of political parties Political parties need funds to be able to pay for election campaigns, salaries and so on. Donations can range from just £5 a year to millions of pounds, or funding for offices and equipment. Often a party spends much more money in a year than it receives in donations or membership fees. To see how parties are financed, it is best to look at them individually. The Liberal Democrats, compared to the big two, have a relatively small income of around £3m. For the Lib Dems, their 85,000 members are vital to their existence, as they do not have the support of institutions and wealthy individuals, which constitutes a handicap for them ahead of the elections. Furthermore, their members are vital to election campaigns, as the Lib Dems do not have the backing of a newspaper and cannot afford to spend large sums of money. This means they have to spread their resources very thinly across constituencies, and as a result they will not get many votes as they struggle to pass their manifesto. Conservatives have increasingly worrying financial problems as their income continues to decline. Even though they have more money on paper than they did some time ago, that is not in line with inflation, so they are losing money. One of the main reasons for this is their declining membership. In the 1950s the Conservatives could boast more than 2 million members, but they have fallen to 330,000. The Conservatives have enjoyed large donations from wealthy people and businesses (especially in the early 1990s), although there is a sleaze factor to this. Wealthy families from Brunei, Saudi Arabia and Kuwait donated large sums to the Tory party and received military aid in exchange for their generosity. They also received funding from Li Ka-Shing and Rong Yiren; in exchange they received passports to come to this country. The Conservatives have been criticized for being funded by a handful of wealthy individuals. Most of workers' income comes from unions, although they