Gordon Brown's decision this month not to call a general election has left the cash-strapped Labour party with a bill approaching £1m, the Guardian has learned.
By Saturday October 6, when the prime minister decided not to go ahead with the election, party officials had sanctioned hundreds of thousands of pounds of expenditure on booking hoarding sites, literature and recruitment of staff, and were at an advanced stage in setting up a media centre to handle daily press conferences.
The cost of detailed polling in marginal seats by Opinion Leader Research - the company run by one of the prime minister's most trusted pollsters, Debbie Mattinson - is also understood to have run to hundreds of thousands of pounds.
The Conservatives are thought to have spent substantially less in the week before the election was called off. It is understood their bill came to less than £200,000.
Meanwhile, Labour candidates in some marginal seats had already printed letters to go out to supporters. One, Martin Linton, who has a majority of 163 over the Conservatives in Battersea, south London, sent out letters to thousands of Labour members and supporters asking for their help. Because of the postal strike, hardly any reached their destinations until well after the election was called off.
Final details of the cost are likely to be revealed to members of Labour's national executive committee today when a report is to be given by Peter Watt, general secretary, at a conference call meeting.
The Guardian has been told by Labour and union sources that:
· Some three million letters - the first tranche of a series to key voters and supporters - were printed and had to be binned
· Technicians working on communication links at the Conservative party conference in Blackpool were called away by Labour on a contract to work on the election media centre in Victoria Street, London
· Furniture and equipment for the media centre was ordered, and a lorry delivering the equipment had to be turned away on the following Monday
· Hundreds of poster sites booked by Labour had to be pre-paid - the Tories also booked sites and mobile posters which are now being used to campaign for a European referendum
· Staff were recruited to work at union headquarters - notably the GMB and Unite - on campaigns in marginal seats
The unexpected bill comes at a bad time for the party ,which has a deficit of around £20m and suffered a big drop in donations last year because of the "cash for honours" investigation.
Donations were just beginning to recover when the prospect of an early general election was raised by Mr Brown's younger supporters. From euphoria during the Labour conference at the end of last month, the mood changed totally during the Conservative gathering after George Osborne, the shadow chancellor, pledged to abolish inheritance tax on estates below £1m and David Cameron made an unscripted and well received speech.
One of the arguments for calling an early election was to prevent Lord Ashcroft, the Conservative deputy party chairman, spending a £2.5m war chest in marginal seats. An early election would have limited the amount he could spend because of rules governing prospective parliamentary candidates.
The cost of the election is certain to be raised when Labour's national executive meets next month. Some members thought Mr Brown should not have considered calling the election.
The party declined to respond to question from the Guardian. Opinion Leader Research also did not respond. One member of the national executive committee, Ann Black, said: "I don't know the cost and even if I did I would not tell you."