THE first pre-poll donations and loans report for the 2015 General Election has been published.

Between Monday, March 30 to Sunday, April 5 almost £2.5 million (£2,466,770) in donations to six registered political parties in Great Britain were reported to the Electoral Commission.

It is the Commission's first of four weekly publications that will be published prior to the poll on 7 May.

By law (The Political Parties, Elections and Referendums Act 2000), political parties must submit weekly donation and loan reports to the Commission if they are standing candidates in the UK parliamentary election and they have received any donations or loans over £7,500.

Parties must notify the Commission if they are not standing candidates in order to be exempt from weekly reporting.

The six political parties that have reported receiving donations over £7,500 were:

Conservative Party – £501,850

Co-operative Party – £13,792

Green Party - £8,400

Labour Party – £1,887,312

Liberal Democrats – £20,000

United Kingdom Independence Party - £35,416

No loans over £7,500 were reported by any party.

You can view details of all reportable donations to registered political parties in the first pre-poll period here: http://www.electoralcommission.org.uk/__data/assets/pdf_file/0011/185285/1st-Pre-poll-donations-and-loans-summary-document.pdf

In 2010, three political parties (the Conservative Party, the Labour Party and the Liberal Democrats) reported receiving just under £2.3 million in the first pre-poll report ahead of the 2010 General Election.