£20,000 Aslef donation 'is not on Ken register'

The gift does not appear anywhere on the Electoral Commission's register, even though its rules suggest any donation that "specifies that it is for the benefit of a particular candidate" must be recorded.

Aslef accounts reveal that in 2003 the union made a £20,000 donation to "Mayor of London Electoral Campaign", yet nothing appears under Mr Livingstone's name on the commission website.

The revelation has prompted further questions about how Mr Livingstoneis able to raise money without having to make donors public, by asserting the money goes to the central party coffers.

The Conservatives say that Aslef has made commuters' lives a misery through industrial action.

A Labour Party spokesman said that the mayoral campaign was run by the London Labour Party which was why it did not appear in the Electoral Commission register.

He added the Electoral Commission had approved the arrangement as far back as 2004. The spokesman said: "The Labour Party is pleased that the Electoral Commission has today made clear that there has been no breach of party-funding rules by the London Labour Party or Ken Livingstone in respect of donations to the London election campaign."

There was further confusion last night because the £20,000 Aslef donation does not appear to have been put on the party's national register either, although the union gave 13 separate donations totalling £53,914. The Labour Party denies that any donations have not been declared properly.

Greg Hands, Conservative MP for Hammersmith and Fulham, has attacked the Mayor's arrangements for donations and demanded he make his campaign finances public.

He said: "It is outrageous that London voters do not know who is funding Ken Livingstone's expensive campaign for reelection. The whole point of these rules is to allow transparency yet Livingstone hasn't declared a single donation given to him since 2000.

"The £20,000 Aslef donation wasn't even declared by the Labour Party, which shows that their arrangements for reporting donations made to Ken Livingstone are utterly flawed. In the public interest, he should release details of his donations right now."

The Electoral Commission yesterday cleared the Mayor of any illegality over the reporting of his donations but forced him to take down a form soliciting donations which asked for cheques to be written to the "Ken Livingstone campaign".