The Electoral Commission has apologised for wrongly accusing the Conservatives of failing to declare two cash donations.

On Monday the Commission reported that Conservative Central Office had failed to register gifts of £250 for the first quarter and £2900 for the second quarter of 2002 on time.

Failure to declare the cash had been described as a "serious matter".

But on Wednesday it was revealed that the cash formed part of aggregate donations.

In accordance with legal requirements, the party did not report them until the third quarter of 2002, when further donations from the same sources took the total value of the donations over the reporting threshold of £5000

"The Commission therefore wishes to clarify that the Conservative Party did not report any donations after the statutory deadline for doing so. The Commission apologises for this error," said a statement.