Overseas voters moving to the UK would be prevented from giving more than £100,000 in political donations for a year after their arrival, under new proposals.
Ministers announced the planned restriction alongside tougher checks on company donations, which they believe will help stop foreign money from influencing UK elections.
The government previously announced a £100,000 annual cap on donations from British citizens living overseas backdated to 25 March.
They now want an individual to be based in the UK for a minimum amount of time before their donations can exceed this limit. The change could hit two of Reform UK’s biggest backers, who have previously donated millions to Nigel Farage’s party.
British billionaire Christopher Harborne, a Thailand-based businessman, last year gave a single donation of £9m to Reform – the biggest single donation to a UK political party by a living person.
The cryptocurrency investor and aviation entrepreneur gave £12m in total to Reform in 2025 and a further £3m in January.
The Times last month reported Harborne has registered to vote in the UK, external, and in April he said the government’s planned crackdown on political finance would not stop him from giving money to the party.
Electoral Commission figures also show that Ben Delo, another crypto billionaire, donated £4m to Reform between January and March.
Delo, writing in The Telegraph in April,, external said he will move back to Britain from Hong Kong so he can contribute more to Reform.
Under the government’s planned changes, both Harborne and Delo would be among those donors still covered for a year by the £100,000 cap once they return.
Ministers said other changes will include political donations from companies being assessed against post-tax profits over the previous five years rather than revenue alone.
The government’s aim is to ensure only legitimate UK-linked businesses will be able to donate.
People running for election will also be required to prove that any funding they received before becoming a candidate has come from legitimate sources.
They will have to declare donations above £2,230 received prior to officially becoming a candidate.
The government said the proposals will be introduced as amendments to the Representation of the People Bill, which is currently scheduled to return to the House of Commons for further consideration on 14 July.
Communities Secretary Steve Reed said: “British democracy is not for sale.
“These tough new rules will shut down dodgy funding, stop foreign money influencing our elections and keep our democracy strong.
“By holding overseas donors to tougher standards and requiring candidates to prove where their funding comes from, we are taking world-leading action to protect the integrity of our elections and tackle the threats we face from abroad.”
The changes are part of the government’s response to a review of political funding, external led by former senior civil servant Philip Rycroft.
The review was commissioned last year in response to threats posed by foreign states attempting to meddle in British democracy.
In March, the government announced that donations in cryptocurrency to UK political parties would be banned alongside the move to cap donations of British citizens living abroad at £100,000 annually.
Reform was critical of the changes, with the party’s home affairs spokesman Zia Yusuf accusing Labour of “choking off legal funding for its main rival”.
Source:
www.bbc.co.uk
