Contribution
My Lords, I think Parliament is at its best when we can get up on both sides of the House and say we agree. In that context, we make much better laws. I welcome many measures in the Bill, and my thanks go to Philip Rycroft for his excellent report on countering foreign financial influence and interference in UK politics. I am grateful to the Government for the changes already made that reflect many of his recommendations, such as the proposals to ban crypto asset donations; the call for company donations to be assessed against profits, not revenue; and the proposal to cap foreign donations at £100,000. Similarly, strengthening the Electoral Commission’s powers, improving “know your donor” checks and introducing slightly tougher enforcement are welcome changes.
Our Prime Minister said that the Bill should be seen as the start, not the end, of his ambition. In that spirit, I wish to raise concerns on which I ask the Government to urgently reflect as we consider the Bill—first, the unprecedented announcement that two crypto billionaires donated an astonishing £72 million to one political party in 24 hours. The amount is staggering, but the fact that it happened at all brings into stark focus the frightening threat to the integrity and health of our democracy presented by the growing trend that sees our politics funded by huge donations from a wealthy small elite. Anybody who believes that the donations were made simply to establish a level playing field is frankly both naive and wrong.
The truth is that large individual donations will at best influence and at worst control the policies and actions of political parties. Look at Reform with Farage’s statements on crypto, saying we should unquestionably embrace it, pledging to cut taxes for crypto traders and promising to lift the cap on the ownership of stablecoins. Look at Nathan Gill accepting bribes and then delivering speeches and interviews in support of Russia.
It is not just Reform. Under the Conservatives, large donations bought access to the Prime Minister, meetings with Ministers and even a tennis match with Boris Johnson. My own party also stands accused of undue influence by the trade union barons in our policies and actions. Hovering in the wings is Elon Musk, talking of investing £100 million in UK politics, who might well try to donate to the populist, extreme-right Restore party.
We must not allow money to capture and dictate our politics. We must act now. The Reform donations have created urgency. We cannot allow our democratic politics to be infected by the corrosive influence of money, with rich individuals often donating to secure public policies that bring them private profit. The Government should bring forward amendments to cap donations from individuals, cap the annual campaigning expenditure of parties and bring down the cap on what parties can spend during the election campaign.
Channel 4’s exposure alleged that Reform would be prepared to circumvent the law and accept donations from a foreign donor. Regrettably, other parties are guilty of similar behaviour. During the 2024 election, the Conservative Party sought a donation from Mohamed Amersi, a man exposed in the Pandora papers and by “Panorama”, and who invented the term “access capitalism.”
A journalist got hold of the email exchanges between Amersi and the Conservatives. I have those emails. They contain a plea from the then treasurer, the noble Lord, Lord Leigh, for a donation—an email from a party official saying that because Amersi had not been on the electoral register for long, “We cannot accept a donation from yourself … the donation must come from Nadia’s account”. Nadia is Amersi’s girlfriend. The email continues, “We are incredibly grateful for this magnificent pledge of support.”
I also have a copy of the SWIFT notification confirming the transfer of £200,000 from Amersi’s Swiss bank account to the Tories and an email from the noble Lord, Lord Leigh, to Amersi, not his girlfriend, saying, “Thank you, Mohamed”—the Conservatives evading the law to accept a donation from a foreign donor. Shockingly, when I took the evidence to the police, they refused to act.
Loopholes such as that must be closed. Political parties must not be able to use think tanks to evade campaign spending controls. “Know your donor” provisions must be strengthened. Enforcement must be toughened, with harsher sentences and a more appropriate threshold for charging. We must clean up our politics and bring to a halt the growing, corrosive and dangerous influence of money in our precious democracy.