Donations cap set to be debated after £72m given to Reform UK

Calls for a cap on political donations are set to be debated by peers after two crypto-billionaires made £72 million in donations to Reform UK.

Christopher Harborne and Ben Delo each gave £36 million to the party, which together amounts to the largest sum of money donated a UK political party.

Reform has said it will use the money to fund its preparations for office, and that the men want “nothing” in return, with party leader Nigel Farage stating that he was “honoured and humbled” by the payments.

Robert Jenrick, the party’s economic spokesman, said on Sunday the donations were “entirely in line with the law as it is, and as far as we know, the law as it’s going to be in the future”.

Campaigners, however, have said the gifts demonstrate the need for a cap on political donations and argued that the situation “creates risks” that politics will be “rigged in favour of those with the most cash”.

UK non-profit Spotlight on Corruption said such donations could have a “huge and damaging impact” on democracy.

Proposals for a cap are likely to feature heavily in the House of Lords, which will debate the government’s Representation of the People Bill on Monday.

The Bill already contains measures limiting donations from overseas electors to £100,000 a year, but attempts by MPs to impose a general cap failed after the government promised to task officials with investigating how a measure would work.

Angela Rayner said any reforms would be backdated to March 25 / Credit: PA

On Sunday, Communities Secretary Angela Rayner suggested a cap was still on the table, telling ITV News the government is working on a bill to address political donations.

She said the reforms in the Representation of the People Bill would be about “making sure there isn’t that foreign interference and that the democracy is about the people of this country and not billionaires thinking they can buy democracy.”

Rayner also said any reforms would be backdated to the publication of the Philip Rycroft review, that was published on March 25 and made numerous suggestions about political donations in the UK.

She said: “We’re bringing in measures to protect against overseas donations and people who return to the UK, and that will be retrospective from when that review was published.”

The measures limiting donations from overseas electors would mean that Brits overseas who have returned to the country within the past 12 months will be capped at giving £100,000 a year.

Delo has been based in Hong Kong but said in April he would return to the UK to avoid restrictions on overseas donors, and Harborne is based in Thailand.

As well as donating to the party, Harborne has given £5 million to Nigel Farage personally, with the Reform leader’s failure to declare the gift leading to an investigation by the Parliamentary Standards Commissioner.

Delo, who was pardoned last year by Donald Trump after a conviction for violating the US Bank Secrecy Act, said his donation was intended to create a “level playing field” for Reform with the other parties.

The party has denied that the men will receive anything in return for their donations, tweeting: “Our donors want nothing and will never be given a peerage, knighthood or a government contract.”