Pressure Mounts on UK Government to Cap Domestic Donations After Reform UK Receives £72m from Crypto Billionaires
Trade unions, MPs, and donors are urging the UK government to revisit party funding rules after Reform UK received £72m in donations from crypto billionaires Christopher Harborne and Ben Delo. While the current elections bill restricts foreign donors, it lacks caps on domestic contributions, a gap that has drawn criticism from Labour MPs and union leaders who have shifted their stance on donation limits.
Reform UK has received a total of £72m in donations from two crypto billionaires, Christopher Harborne and Ben Delo, with each contributing £36m. This influx of funds has intensified calls for the UK government to address loopholes in party funding laws, particularly regarding domestic donations.
The controversy centers on the current elections bill before Parliament. Communities Secretary Angela Rayner suggested that these donations could potentially be caught by new legislation applying retrospectively to donors from outside the UK. Under the proposed rules, donations from Britons living abroad or those who have returned within the past 12 months would be capped at £100,000 a year, with regulations backdated to March. However, the residency status of Harborne and Delo at the time of their donations remains unclear; Harborne is a citizen of the UK and Thailand, while Delo recently moved back to Britain from Hong Kong.
Despite the focus on foreign money, critics argue that the bill fails to cap domestic donations. Andy Burnham has declined to insert curbs on UK-based donor contributions into the legislation. This decision has sparked anger among Labour MPs, who expressed frustration in internal WhatsApp groups over the government's failure to restrict domestic donations while the bill was in the Commons. Labour MP Stella Creasy proposed an amendment for an annual cap of £100,000 on most domestic donations, but it was not voted on as the government deferred to a taskforce review.
Senior government sources indicated they are prepared to review domestic donation issues after receiving advice from a newly commissioned taskforce and the Electoral Commission. Meanwhile, peers in the House of Lords plan to raise the issue when the bill returns next week.
The situation has prompted a shift in stance among trade unions. Unite general secretary Sharon Graham now supports a cap on individual donations, reversing previous union positions that feared such caps would lead to restrictions on union funds. Unison general secretary Andrea Egan criticized Nigel Farage for turning to crypto billionaires to influence politics and pledged opposition from the trade union movement. TUC General Secretary Paul Nowak acknowledged the need to restrict billionaires' ability to buy political influence but emphasized protecting workers' political voice. The TUC congress is scheduled for next week.
Billionaire donors John Caudwell and Dale Vince have also publicly called for changes in law to cap donations and prevent undue influence by wealthy individuals. In response, Reform UK spokesperson Robert Jenrick stated the party is confident the donations were legal and will not be subject to retrospective caps under the new bill's residency criteria.