The Evening Standard has reported:

Ken Livingstone was under fresh pressure over his alleged tax avoidance after he was forced to admit using his private company to make a sizable political donation.

Mr Livingstone had previously claimed to have personally made a donation to the Labour Party of £19,202 in December for “staff costs” during his election campaign.

But he has now confirmed to the electoral commission that the donation came from his private company Silveta Ltd, through which he allegedly avoided at least £50,000 in tax by benefiting from corporation tax at 20 or 21 per cent rather than paying income tax at up to 50 per cent on all of his earnings.

It was today claimed the Labour candidate broke HM Revenue and Customs rules by offsetting the £19,202 donation made through Silveta against tax.