The Tsunami aid appeal has surpassed £110m in just over two weeks – making it the biggest ever fundraising campaign in UK history.

Although the Disasters Emergency Committee (DEC) is unwilling to confirm the exact total collected, a spokesperson for the umbrella organisation has said that “it would be fair to say that £110m has been raised”.

Until now, the record was held by Live Aid, which received donations to the value of £80m in its first year.

Yesterday the Conservative party called for all the donations to be made eligible for Gift Aid due to concerns that a large percentage of the total has been taken in collection tins where donors are unable to specify if they are tax payers.

Alan Duncan, shadow international development secretary, said: “Surely it would be right for the DEC to work out what proportion of its receipts does or does not qualify for Gift Aid? The Government should then top up the committee’s appeal with the equivalent amount that would otherwise have come from Gift Aid qualifying donations.”

The spokesperson for the DEC said: “Gift Aid is very important to any charity as it means people’s donations are worth nearly a third more. It’s crucial that people tick the box so we can Gift Aid the donation. However, we know that many of the people who have given money to the Tsunami appeal may be non-UK tax payers so it wouldn’t be possible to Gift Aid every donation.”

For more information about the DEC and the Tsunami appeal visit www.dec.org.uk