“To ask the Rt hon. Member for Kenilworth and Southam, representing the Speaker's Committee on the Electoral Commission, what recent assessment the Commission has made of the adequacy of the rules on donations by non-UK citizens to political parties.”
Asked by
Mr Alistair Carmichael
Answering Minister
the hon. Member for Lancaster and Fleetwood, representing the Speaker's Committee on the Electoral Commission
Answer from Hansard
Sir Jeremy Wright (Kenilworth and Southam)
When establishing the political finance regime, Parliament’s explicit intention was to ban foreign donations. However, limitations of the current law mean that it is possible for money from foreign sources to enter the UK electoral system through donations from UK companies. For that reason, the Electoral Commission has called for the laws around company donations to be strengthened, to ensure that parties cannot accept money from companies that have not made enough in the UK to fund their donation or loan, to impose a duty to carry out enhanced “know your donor” checks, and to improve transparency over donations made through unincorporated associations.