We, the undersigned, have made donations to the cross-party NO to AV campaign. Like over a thousand donors, we support this campaign because the Alternative Vote is over-complicated, unfair and an expensive distraction from the more important challenges facing our country.
AV would give disproportionate influence to supporters of minority parties at the expense of the open and simple system we have at present. Our concern therefore is that a move to AV would undermine confidence in our electoral process.
Signed
Lord Leach – Chairman of the NO to AV campaign
Peter Cruddas – Co-Treasurer of the NO to AV campaign
Andrew Sells – Co-Treasurer of the NO to AV campaign
Parliamentary Labour Party First Past the Post Group
ASLEF – The Train Drivers’ Union
Community – The Union for Life
GMB – General Union
Lord Wolfson of Aspley Guise
Mick Davis
Lord Kirkham
Lord Sainsbury of Preston Candover KG
Lord Fink of Northwood
Andrew Cook
Mark McDonald – Human Rights Barrister & former candidate for Labour Party Treasurer
Matthew Elliott, Campaign Director of NO to AV, said:
“The donors to the No campaign – drawn from many sources including private citizens, large and small businesses and trade unions – contrast with the two very large donors to the Yes campaign: the Joseph Rowntree Reform Trust (the biggest single donors to the Liberal Democrats) and the Electoral Reform Society, which holds a near-monopoly on the administration, explanation and introduction of elections.”
“The NO campaign were the first to announce that, in the interests of transparency, we would be declaring donations to our campaign ahead of the required date.”
“The broad range of people supporting us contrasts with the narrow financial and political interests of the two large donors to the Yes to AV campaign. Now this information has been made public, voters can make their mind up about the motivations of those pushing for a change of our current voting system.”
The full list of donors of over £7,500 to the NO to AV campaign, that will be reported to the Electoral Commission as part of our Referendum campaign (see note 2), is as follows:
Peter Cruddas 400,000
Jonathan Wood 100,000
Michael Davis 100,000
Lord (John) Sainsbury 100,000
Michael Farmer 100,000
John Caudwell 75,000
Lord (Philip) Harris 75,000
Lord (Graham) Kirkham 75,000
FIL Investment Management Ltd 50,000
Mark Samworth 50,000
James Lyle 50,000
Sir Donald Gosling 50,000
John Spurling 50,000
The Funding Corporation Limited 50,000
IPGL Limited 50,000
Edwin Healey 50,000
David Mayhew 30,000
Christopher Rokos 30,000
Lord (Stanley) Fink 28,000
Andrew Sells 25,000
Lord (Charles G) Leach 25,000
Lord (Simon) Wolfson 25,000
Killik & Co LLP 25,000
JC Bamford Excavators Ltd 25,000
Ivor Braka 25,000
Lord (David) Wolfson 25,000
Jeremy Hosking 25,000
John Nash 25,000
Arbuthnot Banking Group plc 20,000
Nicholas Jenkins 20,000
Hugh Sloane 15,000
David Ord 10,000
Andrew Brannon 10,000
William Cook Holdings Ltd 10,000
Peter Hargreaves 10,000
Rhoderick Swire 10,000
Charles Caminada 10,000
Naguib Kheraj 10,000
GMB Union 10,000
Richard Hoare 10,000
Robin Fleming 10,000
Campaigners in the referendum must report their campaign spending to the Electoral Commission at the end of the referendum period. The Referendum campaign spending return must include the records of spending plus donations received over £7,500 that were used towards campaign spending. This will also include an independent auditor’s certificate. This must be reported to the Commission within 6 months of the end of the referendum.
