Nigel Farage acknowledges Reform UK’s £72m donations may fall foul of law changeThe Reform UK leader appeared defiant as he hit out against the move to retrospectively apply a new law to the twin £36 million gifts.Nigel Farage said he did not want to talk about the details of the two crypto billionaire donors to Reform UK (Will Colebourne/PA)PA WireDavid Lynch3 minutes ago
Nigel Farage has acknowledged Reform UK may fall foul of Government moves to clamp down on foreign donors, after his party received £72 million from two crypto billionaires over the weekend.
However, the Reform UK leader hit out against the move to retrospectively apply a new law to the twin £36 million gifts from Ben Delo and Christopher Harborne, which were announced on Saturday.
Reform has insisted the donations are in line both with current rules and planned restrictions on money from donors based overseas, which are set to be considered in the Lords on Monday.
Those changes restrict donations from expats to £100,000 which would also apply for the first 12 months after they return to the UK – changes which would be backdated to March 25 this year.
Mr Delo has been based in Hong Kong but said in April he would return to the UK to avoid restrictions on overseas donors, and Mr Harborne was based in Thailand but in June he was reported to have registered to vote in Hampshire.
Mr Farage told the BBC on Monday he believed the two donations were “compliant” with the law as it stands, but suggested they would not be acceptable as a result of a law change in the Representation of the People Bill, due to be debated by peers.
“Both these donations are 100% compliant with the law today, of that there is no question whatsoever,” the Reform UK leader told the BBC.
He was then asked whether Mr Delo and Mr Harborne were UK residents as of March 25, as this would have an impact on their donations.
Mr Farage replied: “I’m not going to go into their particular details. All I’m going to say is, with the law of the land as it stands, they are both compliant.
“Now, there is talk, and Angela Rayner was talking about this yesterday, there is talk of them retrospectively declaring donations illegally.
“Well, that simply cannot be.”
Reform UK’s deputy leader Richard Tice earlier told BBC Radio 4’s Today programme both donors had “complied with the rules and regulations, both existing and proposed and will continue to do so”, a position which appeared different from that set out by Mr Farage.
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Mr Tice said the donations would help to “level the playing field” of donations received by other political parties, and claimed Mr Delo and Mr Harborne would have “absolutely zero” influence on Reform’s policy platform.
He compared the situation to Labour’s funding from trade unions who “make demands about employment rights regulations, public sector pay and they get those demands satisfied”.
Reform UK deputy leader Richard Tice compared the situation to Labour’s funding from trade unions (Stefan Rousseau/PA)PA Wire
Proposals for a cap on all donations 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 the 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.
On Sunday, Communities Secretary Angela Rayner suggested a cap was still on the table, telling the BBC she wanted to stop people “being able to overpower and buy their way into democracy”.
The Liberal Democrats are likely to push for a cap, having called for “emergency legislation” to impose one and saying the donations exposed “a dangerous flaw in our democratic system”.
Sharon Graham, general secretary of Unite, has suggested donations from trade unions should be exempt from any cap, saying they were “not the same as two crypto millionaires waking up and giving £72 million”.
Paul Nowak, the TUC general secretary, similarly told TUC congress there was no similarity “between care workers chipping in a few quid a year through their union and a party bought and paid for by billionaires”.
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