The Labour Government last week announced landmark changes to cap donations from overseas electors and ban crypto donations to protect UK democracy from scourge of foreign actors and financial influence.
Under the new rules, British citizens living abroad will face an annual cap on their political donations of £100,000 and regulated transactions such as loans of the same value. The measures, outlined in detail in Parliament this week by Secretary of State Steve Reed MP, also include a ban on all cryptocurrency donations, which will prevent bad actors using untraceable means of influencing elections.
Critically, both of these measures came into effect immediately on Wednesday following the findings of the independent Rycroft Review, led by former Permanent Secretary Philip Rycroft, which was commissioned by Labour in December 2025 to investigate foreign financial interference in the UK’s political and electoral systems. The Government will amend the Representation of the People Bill to deliver these changes with retrospective effect. Once the legislation comes into force, political parties and regulated entities like candidates and MPs will then have 30 days to return any unlawful donations they may have received in the interim, after which enforcement action can be taken.
Only Labour are pushing to clean up our political funding, with Reform condemning the decision. Nigel Farage claimed the decision “breaches human rights” having accepted £12 million in the last year from Christopher Harborne, a crypto-supporting billionaire who lives in Thailand.
