To prevent suspicious financing… Britain tightens the rules for foreign political donations news

Britain on Monday tightened its rules regarding political donations from abroad, as part of efforts to prevent the influence of foreign money on elections, while the leader of the United Kingdom Reform Party, Nigel Farage, faces an investigation into gifts he received from a donor abroad before he became a member of Parliament.

The Department of Housing, Communities and Local Government said political candidates will henceforth be required to declare donations worth more than £2,230 that they received before they stood, with personal gifts continuing to be exempt.

They will also have to prove that any funding they received before running came from legitimate sources, in light of growing concerns about what Housing Minister Steve Reid described as “suspicious funding”.

Members of Parliament are currently required to disclose donations exceeding 500 pounds sterling (about $666), including donations they received a year before their election, but unsuccessful candidates are not obligated to follow the same rules.

“Protecting democracy”

“By imposing stricter standards on foreign donors and requiring candidates to prove the source of their funding, we are taking world-leading action to protect the integrity of our elections and address the threats we face from abroad,” Reed said in a statement.

Last year, the government ordered a review into the interference of foreign money in political affairs after a former Islah Party politician was sentenced to prison for receiving bribes in exchange for making pro-Russian speeches and statements.

The review concluded that Britain faces a persistent problem of attempts by foreign countries, including Russia, China and Iran, to influence and undermine the country’s democracy, prompting the government to implement the new rules, according to the review.

New rules

The new, stricter rules also mean that individuals moving to the UK from abroad must now reside permanently in the UK for a year before they can make a political donation of £100,000 or more (about US$133,000).

Officials say the measure will prevent donors from circumventing restrictions on foreign donations simply by registering to vote in the country.

Donations from companies will also be assessed on past profits after tax rather than revenue, ⁠⁠helping to ensure that only UK-linked and regulated companies ⁠⁠can donate.

These rules are based on those announced in March, which capped donations from Britons living abroad at £100,000 a year, and imposed a ban on cryptocurrency donations until a system was created to effectively regulate them.

Farage’s accusation

The rules come as the leader of the anti-immigration UK Reform Party, Nigel Farage, is being investigated by the parliamentary standards watchdog over whether he should have announced a £5 million (about US$6.7 million) donation from a Thai-based cryptocurrency billionaire, which was made before Farage announced his candidacy for Parliament.

Farage’s Reform Party, which has topped local opinion polls for more than a year, said no rules had been broken in relation to the donation Farage received from cryptocurrency investor Christopher Harbourne, who provided about two-thirds of the party’s funding last year, according to Electoral Commission data.

On Sunday, Farage was referred to Parliament’s standards watchdog following a report that he had not declared some other benefits.

Farage is likely to face another investigation after it was revealed that he received a number of benefits from digital currency tycoon George Cottrell before the general election.

The Sunday Times revealed last week that the Reform Party leader had accepted a number of previously undisclosed benefits from Cottrell, who served time in a US prison for wire fraud, in the run-up to his election as an MP.

These included donating a number of staff to manage his social media team, providing security, and the use of a mansion near Buckingham Palace.

When Nigel became an MP, he recorded a donation of £9,253 (about US$12,342) from Cottrell to cover the costs of a trip to Belgium in April 2024.

He later added another donation of about 15,000 pounds (about 20,000 dollars) to cover the costs of a domestic flight in the United States made by Cottrell in December 2024. However, he did not disclose other previous benefits that the businessman had provided in the field of digital currencies.

On Sunday, the Islah Party acknowledged receiving these gifts, but said that they were personal gifts to Nigel that had nothing to do with his political activities, and therefore did not need to be disclosed.