UK's Conservatives beat Labour in first week of electoral fundraising battle

LONDON, Nov 21 (Reuters) - British Prime Minister Boris Johnson's Conservative Party raised 26 times more in political donations than the Labour Party in the first week of the official election campaign.

The Electoral Commission said the Conservatives raised 5.7 million pounds ($7.4 million) in Nov. 6-12 while Jeremy Corbyn's Labour Party raised 218,500 pounds.

That left Labour trailing two of the smaller parties in the fundraising stakes, however the party tends to raise more money from smaller donations that would not have passed the 7,500 pounds threshold counted by the Electoral Commission.

The Liberal Democrats raised 275,000 pounds in the period while Nigel Farage's Brexit Party raised 250,000 pounds. ($1 = 0.7723 pounds) (Reporting by Kate Holton and Andrew MacAskill; editing by Guy Faulconbridge)