Burnham faces call for donations cap after Reform given £72m in two daysCryptocurrency billionaires Ben Delo and Christopher Harborne have each donated £36 million.Nigel Farage’s party has received two £36 million donations from cryptocurrency billionaires Ben Delo and Christopher Harborne (Will Colebourne/PA)PA WireChristopher McKeon6 minutes ago
Andy Burnham faces renewed calls to cap political donations after Reform UK received £72 million from cryptocurrency billionaires in two days.
The two £36 million donations from Ben Delo and Christopher Harborne have given Reform a boost after a summer dominated by scrutiny of the party’s finances.
They have also prompted demands for a review of political funding laws.
Labour MP Stella Creasy said the donations totalled more than her party had received from trade unions over the last five years and showed a cap “cannot come too soon to protect British democracy”.
Ms Creasy is one of several backbenchers to have proposed an amendment to the Government’s Representation of the People Bill that would have prevented donors giving parties more than £100,000 in a single year.
Her amendment was not debated in the Commons after the Government said it would set up a taskforce to tackle the issue of “mega-donors”.
The Bill is set to be debated in the House of Lords on Monday, with Ms Creasy saying it provided an opportunity to “stop these people from distorting the next election”.
Duncan Hames, of Transparency International UK, said the donations made “an irrefutable case” for a cap, adding: “At this rate just two people could end up buying our democracy before the next election.”
Campaign group Spotlight on Corruption said the donations could have a “huge and damaging impact”, and accused the Government of “ignoring the very high risk of the Americanisation of our politics”.
Green Party deputy leader Rachel Millward also called for a cap, accusing Reform of being “a vessel for the super wealthy”.
She said: “Labour could have stopped this years ago by capping donations. Burnham promised to do it then backtracked. Will he now admit this was a mistake?”
Reform leader Nigel Farage said: “Thanks to the generosity of Christopher Harborne and Ben Delo, Reform will now be able to fight and win the next general election on a level playing field.”
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Writing in the Daily Telegraph, Thailand-based Mr Harborne said the donation was “a philanthropic gift to our country” intended to help Reform prepare for government.
He said: “Whilst I have been making donations to Reform of around £1 million a month, Ben Delo told me he was going to make a record donation of £36 million.
“My competitive spirit inspired me to match it, so that is what I’ve done. And I hope others may join us.”
Stella Creasy said a cap on donations cannot come too soon (Yui Mok/PA)PA Archive
The donation means Mr Harborne retains his position as Reform’s largest donor, having already given £9 million to the party last August.
A separate £5 million gift from Mr Harborne to Nigel Farage is also at the centre of an investigation by the parliamentary standards watchdog after the Reform leader failed to declare it in his register of interests.
In his Telegraph article announcing the donation, the billionaire said the UK needed a “profitable and dynamic economy” to be able to address the three “existential threats” of nuclear war, AI and climate change.
His donation comes a day after it was reported Mr Delo had given £36 million to the party, saying it would ensure a “level playing field” between Reform and its opponents.
Mr Delo, who moved back to the UK from Hong Kong in order to avoid a proposed cap on donations from overseas voters, was pardoned by Donald Trump last year following a conviction for violating the US Bank Secrecy Act.
The Telegraph reported he had intended to give Reform £1 million a month up until the next election, but was donating the money in a lump sum in case the Government introduced a cap on all political donations.
MPs last week backed measures including a cap on overseas donations at £100,000 and a suspension of funding through cryptocurrency, but the draft legislation still needs to be passed by the House of Lords to become law.
The twin donations offer Mr Farage’s party a boost after a difficult summer that included the launch of a criminal investigation into allegations it breached rules on political donations.
Reform UK denies any wrongdoing and has said it will co-operate fully with the probe.
Labour Party chairwoman Bridget Phillipson said: “Farage can’t buy his way out of the sleaze and scandal he and Reform UK are drowning in – or the multiple police investigations that are ongoing into Reform’s dodgy finances.
“The serious questions Farage and Reform need to answer aren’t going away – in fact they’re just piling up.
“It’s time Farage and Reform came clean with the public, fully co-operated with the ongoing police investigations and prove they’re not just in it for themselves.”
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