Critics have accused the Prime Minister of wanting to change the rules on political donations after opponent’s bumper gift
Nigel Farage has welcomed £72million in donations (Image: Getty)
Andy Burnham’s head must be spinning. Not because he’s just completed the Great North Run in a commendable 1hr 57mins, but because one of the Labour Party’s big political rivals has just hit the jackpot.
Reform UK’s two £36million donations – the largest in British political history – have boosted Nigel Farage’s war chest by a whopping £72million. The stunning development has dramatically changed the political landscape, and Burnham knows it. Reform was on the ropes less than a fortnight ago following a donation scandal, now they’re dancing around the ring taunting their rivals like Mohammed Ali.
The combined £72million from crypto billionaires Ben Delo and Christopher Harborne has injected new urgency – and a hint of panic – into Labour’s ongoing debate on how to regulate political donations, with even the unions now looking like they’ll ease their resistance to a cap on individual donors.
Given that Burnham backed a donations cap earlier this year, then declined to introduce one this month, will we now see that rare thing from a Prime Minister – a full 360-degree turn?
Reform has accused Labour of wanting to change the rules.
When Stella Creasy and other MPs proposed a £100,000 cap in the Elections Bill earlier this month, the Government didn’t accept it, and her amendment wasn’t put to a vote after Burnham said a task force would look at going further.
But Angela Rayner, the Cabinet minister in charge of the Bill, told the Sunday political shows she wasn’t ruling out a cap on individual donations.
Labour politicians are already mobilising to pile pressure on the Government to go further.
In the House of Lords on Monday, Labour peer Lord Wills, a longstanding proponent of a donations cap, will raise the issue when the Elections Bill arrives for its second reading.
At this stage, peers won’t be voting on specific amendments, but it is a chance for them to lay down a marker ahead of the Bill’s committee stage next month.
Perhaps more significantly, the issue is on everyone’s lips at the Trades Union Congress during its annual get-together in Brighton.
Labour-affiliated unions have been lobbying for months against a UK donations cap, yet TUC general secretary Paul Nowak called the £72million “game-changing” on Sunday and didn’t rule out changing his position.
And Unite general secretary Sharon Graham told Sky outright: “The Government needs to act now to cap individual donations in a clear message that British democracy is not for sale.”
Both Nowak and Rayner will speak at the TUC on Monday.
Like Burnham’s half-marathon conquests, there are plenty more miles to go on this issue.
But the speed of change could happen much more quickly as Westminster tries to keep up with Reform.