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New rules would apply to retrospective donations, says former civil servant published at 07:53 BST The former civil servant who recommended the new cap on party donations says he did so to stop people who chose to take their wealth abroad making "potentially game-changing donations into British politics". Sir Philip Rycroft says the rules would limit donations from British voters living abroad to £100,000 and would retrospectively apply to donations going back to 25 March this year, when his review was published. He also says it's his understanding that people would have to have been living in the UK for at least a full calendar year - i.e. from at least 25 March 2025 - to be considered a domestic donor (we're looking into the detail of the proposed law and will have more on that soon) .
As said by our chief political correspondent Henry Zeffman , we do not know exactly when Ben Delo and Christopher Harborne, the individuals behind Reform UK's £72m in donations, moved back to the UK. Earlier this morning the deputy leader of Reform UK Richard Tice told BBC Breakfast he could not say the specific date that Delo moved back to the UK from Hong Kong - but said "everything's been done completely within the rules". Who gave Reform the combined £72m? published at 07:46 BST Image source, George Cracknell Wright Image caption, Christopher Harborne wrote in the Telegraph on Saturday that Reform was a "start-up party" that lacked "the benefit of hundreds of years of patronage" Cryptocurrency billionaires Ben Delo and Christopher Harborne each gave £36m to the party over two days last week.
The pair, who are British and have spent time living overseas, now share the record for the largest ever donation given to a UK political party. Both men had already donated millions of pounds to Reform ahead of the announcement of their latest contributions. Harborne wrote in the Telegraph on Saturday that Reform was a "start-up party" that lacked "the benefit of hundreds of years of patronage".
Delo had written in the newspaper the day before that he wanted to enable Reform to put up a "fair fight" at the next election. The Times reported in June that Harborne, who has been based in Thailand, had registered to vote in the UK, while Delo had told the Telegraph in April that he was moving back from Hong Kong. Could Reform have to hand back its £72m? published at 07:40 BST Henry Zeffman Chief political correspondent The House of Lords was already going to be debating issues relating to political party donations today, but that debate now takes on an extra resonance, to say the least, because of the mega-donations to Reform UK from Ben Delo and Christopher Harborne.
One of the provisions in the law being debated today is a cap of £100,000 a year on donations from Britons living overseas, with that cap remaining in place for a year if somebody then returns to live in Britain. If the law passes, those requirements will be backdated to 25 March. Reform UK are confident that it will not affect the £72m meaning both Delo and Harborne – who had been living in Hong Kong and Thailand respectively – must have returned to the UK by 25 March.
We do not know exactly when. However, there are some within the Labour Party who want the government to now go further as this legislation makes its way through the House of Lords - potentially meaning that Reform UK might ultimately have to hand back this money. Government 'terrified' of Reform - Tice published at 07:32 BST Richard Tice tells BBC Breakfast the government is trying to protect itself from "a bit of competition" by changing the law around who can donate to political parties.
The deputy leader of Reform UK says he believes the party has done everything "completely in accordance" with the law. He added it would show how "terrified" the government was of his party "if they completely change the way that we understand things are done in the United Kingdom and that they retrospectively introduce legislation in order to significantly disadvantage another political party that's merely trying to get on a level playing field". He says the two donors behind the £72m Reform received are "very successful entrepreneurs" who are trying to "save the country from going bust".
"[The government is] trying to literally change the rules to suit their own narrative any day of the week at the drop of a hat and that's not the fair way, it's not the British way," he says. Reform's Tice says government trying to 'retrospectively change rules' ahead of donations debate published at 07:22 BST Image source, Ben Delo Foundation Image caption, Last year, Ben Delo was given an unconditional pardon by Donald Trump over a breach of anti-money laundering laws at his crypto trading platform, BitMex, to which he had pleaded guilty in 2022 Reform UK's Deputy Leader Richard Tice says the government is trying to "retrospectively change the rules" on political donations ahead of a debate later today in the House of Lords. This weekend, the party announced £72m in donations from two billionaires in 24 hours, days before a bill that could introduce a £100,000 cap on donations from British voters living abroad returns to Parliament.
The huge donations, worth £36m each, came from Ben Delo and Christopher Harborne, who are both British and have spent time living overseas. "Everything has been done completely within the rules," Tice tells BBC Breakfast. Speaking to the BBC on Sunday, Housing Secretary Angela Rayner said the rule changes would apply retrospectively and anyone not complying with them would have "to return that money".
We'll have more from Tice, and reaction from elsewhere, shortly.
Source: BBC
