LORD SAINSBURY, the science minister, is poised to donate £2m to Labour’s general election campaign to compensate the party for a sharp fall in financial backing from the trade unions.

The money is expected to be handed over in the next few weeks as Labour gears up for the election.

Lord Levy, its chief fundraiser, is trying to raise more than £12m for the campaign as unions scale back contributions because of their opposition to the war in Iraq and public sector reforms.

The party has established its election war room and hired staff in preparation for an expected poll on May 5.

A Labour party source said: “The problem with raising money is the unions who have come up very short this time. But Lord Levy has rounded up some serious donors. We are expecting a handful of people to make donations of £1m plus.”

Sainsbury confirmed that he would make the biggest financial contribution to the campaign. “I intend to support the party in this coming election in the same way I have done in the past. It is likely to be at the same sort of level as the sums I’ve given in the past.”

Labour sources confirmed that they were expecting a £2m donation from the minister, which will bring his contribution over the past decade to at least £16m.

Sainsbury, whose family is worth an estimated £1.7 billion, became a donor to Tony Blair before 1997 and has given regular seven-figure sums since. He has attracted controversy because of his support for genetically modified food in which he has personal interests through a charitable trust.

The party’s other big donors, including Christopher Ondaatje and Lord Hamlyn’s widow, are expected to make six or seven-figure donations. Lord Drayson, the pharmaceuticals tycoon who is tipped to replace Sainsbury as science minister after the election, has also been lined up for a large donation.

Sir Ronald Cohen, the party’s fourth biggest donor, is expected to be a notable omission. Last week The Sunday Times revealed that he was being lined up to help to finance any future leadership campaign by Gordon Brown.

Cohen is said to have spent last week “running around assuring potential donors that he was not trying to undermine the prime minister”, according to a source. Brown has held a series of “get to know you” breakfast meetings with donors including Lord Haskel and Lord Paul. Sainsbury said that he would continue supporting the party if Brown became leader.

However, Duncan Bannatyne, another donor who runs casinos and health clubs, said that because of the Blair-Brown feud he would not make further donations: “Disunity in the cabinet has a corrosive effect on the country.”

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