UK's Labour trumps PM Sunak's Conservatives in latest election donations

LONDON (Reuters) - Britain's opposition Labour Party received nearly 4.4 million pounds ($5.53 million) in donations in the second week of campaigning for next month's election, official data showed, more than 14 times as much as the governing Conservatives.

Prime Minister Rishi Sunak's Conservatives, who are trailing Labour by about 20 points in opinion polls ahead of the July 4 vote, received just 292,500 pounds, according to weekly data released by the Electoral Commission on Friday.

The Conservatives also received less than both Nigel Farage's Reform UK, who received 742,000 pounds, and the Liberal Democrats, who recorded 335,000 pounds in donations.

Labour's donations included 2.5 million pounds from David Sainsbury, a former Labour peer and ex-chairman of the Sainsbury's supermarket chain, and 900,000 pounds from Gary Lubner, the former CEO of Belron, an international windscreen repair and replacement business.

Traditionally, the Conservatives receive far more than their opponents.

The data, which covered June 6-12, showed a total of more than 5.8 million pounds in donations was reported by political parties and campaigners during the period.

In the first week of the campaign, Labour received nearly 927,000 pounds for Labour while donations to the Conservatives totalled just under 575,000.

($1 = 0.7915 pounds)

(Reporting by Kylie MacLellan; editing by Michael Holden)