THE Tories have admitted inaccurately reporting donations from a defunct company, the political party spending watchdog has revealed.

The Electoral Commission said on Saturday that it was awaiting further information from the Conservatives on two donations from Unionist Buildings, after the party confirmed that there had been a mistake in registering the cash. 

In a letter to the watchdog last week, Labour chairwoman Anneliese Dodds said that the commission had noted two Tory donations from the company — £6,000 to the party in June 2017 and a further £4,000 to Tory MP Wendy Morton early last year — despite the firm having been dissolved in January 2017.

The Political Parties, Elections and Referendums Act 2000 says that company donors must be active in Britain, with party treasurers under obligation to check if the firm is in liquidation, dormant, about to be struck off, or if its accounts are overdue, before deciding whether to accept a donation. 

Ms Dodds said: “This confirmation that the Conservatives inaccurately recorded a donation amounting to thousands of pounds raises more questions than it answers. We urgently need to know where that money came from.”

The watchdog has also confirmed there were “errors” on its part in registering Tory donations from another defunct company.

The commission said that the party had accepted £10,000 from Stridewell Estates in November 2019 — three years after the firm had ceased trading.

But the watchdog confirmed the Tories had in fact reported a donation from another company, Kirklee Property Company 2 Limited, and it had incorrectly confused the two because they shared the same address.

It said it regretted any confusion the error had caused.