THE SDLP spent more than any other Northern Ireland party in May’s general election, figures from the Electoral Commission have revealed.
The party ran up a bill of more than £59,000 on the campaign trail, in an election which saw just three SDLP MPs returned.
It meant the SDLP spent £7,000 more than during the 2010 election, and put them ahead of Sinn Féin and the DUP, traditionally the biggest spenders.
Money was no object for the UUP in their quest to regain formerly held seats, with expenditure more than trebling since the £16,000 spent in the disastrous 2010 contest, which left the party without an MP.
The DUP, which did not stand in some constituencies after making electoral pacts with the Ulster Unionists, spent £58,000.
Sinn Féin’s expenditure was scaled back from the last Westminster election, when it was the highest of any party in the north.
A £35,000 spend was almost half the £64,000 bill incurred for the 2010 contest.
Alliance, meanwhile, spent just over £17,000, in a battle which saw it lose the east Belfast seat held by its only MP Naomi Long.
The Conservatives, who split from the Ulster Unionists following the 2010 election, cut spending by almost £100,000 for this year’s contest.
The party spent £18,000 standing 16 candidates.
The lowest expenditure was from the Workers Party, whose total ran to just £600 for five candidates.
In total the north’s parties spent over £260,000 contesting the Westminster election, a drop of almost £100,000 from the 2010 campaign.
EXPENDITURE BY PARTY:
SDLP - £59,448
DUP - £58,183
UUP -£52,976
Sinn Féin - £35,495
Conservative and Unionist Party - £18,376
Alliance - £17,047
Green Party - £10,888
UKIP - £7,549
TUV - £4,590
Workers Party - £600
