LONDON, U.K.: Britain tightened its rules on political donations from abroad on July 6 to stop foreign money from influencing elections.
This comes amid concerns about what Housing Minister Steve Reed called “dodgy funding.”
Last year, the government ordered a review into foreign interference in politics after a former Reform UK politician was sent to jail for accepting bribes to make statements and speeches supporting Russia.
The review found that Britain continues to face a serious problem from foreign countries such as Russia, China, and Iran trying to influence and weaken its democracy. Because of this, the government decided to introduce new rules.
These changes also come at a time when the parliamentary standards watchdog is investigating Reform UK leader Nigel Farage. The investigation concerns whether he should have declared a £5 million (US$6.68 million) donation from a cryptocurrency billionaire based in Thailand, which he received before saying he would run for parliament.
On July 6, Britain’s Ministry of Housing, Communities & Local Government said that from now on, political candidates must declare any donations above £2,230 that they received before officially becoming candidates. They must also prove that such funding came from legal and genuine sources.
Steve Reed said in a statement that by setting stricter rules for overseas donors and requiring candidates to show where their money comes from, the government is taking strong action to protect elections and deal with threats from abroad.
The new rules also say that people moving to the UK from other countries must live there permanently for at least one year before they can make a political donation of £100,000 or more. In addition, donations from companies will now be assessed against their after-tax profits rather than their total revenue, ensuring that only genuine UK-linked businesses can donate.
These measures add to rules announced in March, which limited donations from British citizens living abroad to £100,000 per year and temporarily banned cryptocurrency donations until a proper system is created to regulate them.
Reform UK, which has been leading national opinion polls for more than a year, said no rules were broken in the donation to Farage from crypto investor Christopher Harborne. According to Electoral Commission data, Harborne provided about two-thirds of the party’s funding last year.
On July 5, Farage was referred to parliament’s standards watchdog after a report claimed that he failed to declare some additional benefits.
