Some other manufacturers for comparison:
Bombardier made two donations to the total sum of £5350 to Labour in 2009, whilst the latter was in power.
Link
| Click for more details | Entity Name | Register | Campaigning name | Entity Type | Value | Accepted date | Rec'd by (AU) | Donor name | Reported under 62:12 | Is sponsorship | Donor status | Is Irish source | Regulated donee type | Company reg. no. | Postcode | Donation type | Nature / provision | Purpose | How dealt with | Received date | Reported date | Reported pre or post poll | Reporting period | Is bequest? | Is aggregation? |
|---|
| C0022830 | Labour Party | Great Britain | | Political Party | £4,300.00 | 27/11/2009 | Central Party | Bombardier Transportation (UK) Ltd - Sponsorship | | Sponsorship | Company | | | | DE24 8AD | Cash | | | | 27/11/2009 | 30/01/2010 | Post | Q4 2009 | | Aggregation |
| C0022829 | Labour Party | Great Britain | | Political Party | £1,050.00 | 20/11/2009 | Central Party | Bombardier Transportation (UK) Ltd | | | Company | | | | DE24 8AD | Cash | | | | 20/11/2009 | 30/01/2010 | Post | Q4 2009 | | Aggregation |
Siemens made two donations in 2016 and 2017 to the total sum of £6055 to Michelle Donelan, Tory MP for Chippenham. Probably worth noting that Siemens have a facility in Chippenham.
Link
| Click for more details | Entity Name | Register | Campaigning name | Entity Type | Value | Accepted date | Rec'd by (AU) | Donor name | Reported under 62:12 | Is sponsorship | Donor status | Is Irish source | Regulated donee type | Company reg. no. | Postcode | Donation type | Nature / provision | Purpose | How dealt with | Received date | Reported date | Reported pre or post poll | Reporting period | Is bequest? | Is aggregation? |
|---|
| C0380840 | Michelle Donelan MP | Great Britain | | Regulated Donee | £3,555.00 | 10/12/2017 | | Siemens Rail Automation | | | Company | | MP - Member of Parliament | 0164 1421 | GU16 8QD | Cash | | | | 10/12/2017 | 09/01/2018 | | January 2018 | | |
| NC0260291 | Michelle Donelan MP | Great Britain | | Regulated Donee | £2,500.00 | 23/08/2016 | | Siemens Rail Automation | | | Company | | MP - Member of Parliament | 0164 1421 | GU16 8QD | Non Cash | Other | | | 23/08/2016 | 03/11/2016 | | November 2016 | | |
Hitachi has made three donations all to different people/parties. One in 2013 to Labour - this appears to be to the constituency group in Sedgefield where Hitachi have their Newton Aycliffe site. The other two were in 2013 to James Wharton, Tory MP at the time for Stockton South, and in 2015 to Mark Bradshaw, Labour councillor for Bedminster. Of note is that the latter donation was made jointly by Hitachi and First Great Western.
Link
| Click for more details | Entity Name | Register | Campaigning name | Entity Type | Value | Accepted date | Rec'd by (AU) | Donor name | Reported under 62:12 | Is sponsorship | Donor status | Is Irish source | Regulated donee type | Company reg. no. | Postcode | Donation type | Nature / provision | Purpose | How dealt with | Received date | Reported date | Reported pre or post poll | Reporting period | Is bequest? | Is aggregation? |
|---|
| C0161157 | Cllr Mark Bradshaw | Great Britain | | Regulated Donee | £5,000.00 | 13/02/2015 | | Hitachi Rail and First Great Western | | | Other | | Cllr. - Member of a Local Authority | | EC1N 2PB | Cash | | | | 09/02/2015 | 01/03/2015 | Post | April 2015 | | |
| NC0092417 | Mr James Wharton MP | Great Britain | | Regulated Donee | £2,000.00 | 24/06/2013 | | Hitachi Rail Europe Ltd | | Sponsorship | Company | | MP - Member of Parliament | 05598549 | WC1F 0AF | Non Cash | Sponsorship | | | 24/06/2013 | 05/08/2013 | Post | July 2013 | | |
| C0088715 | Labour Party | Great Britain | | Political Party | £5,700.00 | 07/01/2013 | Sedgefield CLP | Hitachi Rail Europe Limited | | | Company | | | 5598549 | EC1N 2PB | Cash | | | | 07/01/2013 | 30/04/2013 | Post | Q1 2013 | | |
Alstom and Stadler have no registered political donations in the UK
So whilst CAF aren't the only rail manufacturer to make political donations in the UK, they have by a large margin made more political donations than any other rail manufacturer, and the timing of CAF's most recent donation to the Tory party is suspect when one considers that it was around the same time as the decision to award the LNER order to CAF became known internally, early 2022.
One notes that there seems to be around a three month delay between donations being made and them appearing on the electoral commission website. Hopefully another donation from CAF to the Conservative Party won't appear in the next few months!
It would also be interesting to see how these dates tie in with tenders going out/contract awards being made for the other CAF units that have been built.
The big difference between the LNER contract and any other UK contract CAF have won is that LNER is 100% government owned and controlled. All of the other orders were either made by private companies (Arriva, First, Abellio and Serco) or by TFL (Labour Mayor). The UK government didn't have any influence in the TFW and Caledonian Sleeper orders, and will have had a lot less influence in the TPE, Northern and WMT orders than they will have had in the LNER order.
Do we know what other donations they've made, both here and in other countries?
In the UK it's just those four donations to the Conservatives. Unsure about other countries
Hitachi (if I've read correctly) have donated £5700 to the Labour Party (10 years ago) and various smaller sums to individual politicians for Labour, the Tories, and Plaid.
The donation from Hitachi to Plaid appears to be from one of their other business sectors rather than Hitachi Rail.
