Angela Rayner suggests Labour could toughen up ban on huge donations to political parties after crypto-billionaires hand Reform record £72million
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Angela Rayner has raised the prospect of Labour toughening its cap on political donations after Reform UK received a record £72million from two crypto-billionaires living abroad. The Deputy Prime Minister told Sky News that party funding was a "live issue", arguing that billionaires who "don't pay taxes" and "don't live here" should not be able to "buy your way into our democracy" — comments that go further than Prime Minister Andy Burnham, who has resisted a backbench push to widen the proposed cap, reportedly amid pushback from Labour's union backers. Reform, meanwhile, insisted the gift was legitimate and unconditional, with finance spokesman Robert Jenrick saying it would leave the party "battle ready" for a general election.
Thailand-based Christopher Harborne and Hong Kong-based Ben Delo each gave £36million to Nigel Farage's party on the same day, both registering as UK voters to make the gifts legal ahead of planned legislation capping foreign donations at £100,000; Farage said the pair moved early to beat any such crackdown. The combined sum equates to roughly three-quarters of all parties' spending at the 2024 general election. Harborne, who also gave Farage £5million personally — a gift whose non-declaration triggered a Parliamentary Standards Commissioner inquiry — called his donation a "philanthropic gift to our country", while Delo, a BitMEX co-founder pardoned by Donald Trump in 2024, said his contribution was meant to create a "level playing field" with rival parties. Reform said neither man would receive a knighthood, peerage or government contract if it took power.
- Rayner says Labour may tighten donation caps after Reform's £72m windfall
- Two crypto-billionaires abroad gave £36m each, registering as UK voters
- Reform denies any favours owed; Farage aide faces separate declaration inquiry
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Angela Rayner has raised the idea of tightening the rules on political donations after two crypto entrepreneurs based overseas gave Reform UK £72million between them, the largest single donation ever made to a British political party. Rayner is Labour's deputy leader, and her comments have reignited a long-running debate about how political parties in the UK are funded, and whether wealthy backers who live abroad should be able to give such large sums.
Reform UK, led by Nigel Farage, has grown rapidly in recent years and increasingly rivals the two main parties in opinion polls, making its funding a matter of wider political interest. The donors, Christopher Harborne and Ben Delo, made their fortunes in cryptocurrency and now live outside the UK, though both remain registered as UK voters, which under current law makes their gifts legal. Parliament is separately considering new rules to cap donations from people living overseas, though these would not apply to registered voters like Harborne and Delo.
Donations to political parties in Britain are already subject to some restrictions, but rules on very large individual gifts, and on money linked to donors based abroad, have long been a source of controversy. Concerns raised in such debates typically centre on whether wealthy individuals could gain undue influence over a party or government, which is part of why this donation has attracted attention from politicians on all sides.
Both sides, in good faith
The strongest fair case each way — we don't pick a winner.
The case for
Those who back tighter donation limits argue that democracy should not be available to the highest bidder, and that a single £72million gift, however legally structured, risks handing outsized influence over a governing party to two individuals who live abroad and pay no UK tax. They contend that public trust in politics depends on the perception, as well as the reality, of a level playing field, and that closing loopholes which let non-resident wealth flow to parties via UK voter registration is a reasonable safeguard rather than an attack on any one party. Proponents also point to the sheer scale of the sum, roughly three-quarters of all parties' 2024 election spending, as evidence that existing caps have been overtaken by events and need updating to preserve genuine electoral competition.
The case against
Those wary of new restrictions argue that Harborne and Delo are legally registered UK voters entitled to support the party of their choice, and that changing the rules only after a rival party benefits looks like an attempt by incumbents to entrench their own advantage rather than a principled reform. They note that Labour and other established parties rely heavily on union or institutional funding streams of their own, so a selective crackdown could be seen as protecting familiar sources of money while penalising a newer party's ability to compete. Advocates for keeping the current framework also emphasise that both donors insist the gift comes with no strings attached, no honours, no contracts, and that curbing lawful donations risks setting a precedent for governments to restrict funding to whichever party is inconveniently well-resourced at the time.
Full account
Angela Rayner has signalled that Labour could tighten the rules on political donations after Reform UK received a record £72 million from two overseas-based cryptocurrency entrepreneurs. The deputy prime minister and housing secretary described the funding of political parties as a live issue for the government, fuelling speculation that ministers may act to close loopholes that allow wealthy individuals to bankroll parties from abroad.
The money came from Christopher Harborne, a technology investor who has been based in Thailand, and Ben Delo, a co-founder of the BitMEX cryptocurrency exchange who lives in Hong Kong. Each gave £36 million to Nigel Farage's party within a 48-hour period on Friday and Saturday, making the combined sum the largest donation in British political history and roughly equivalent to three-quarters of everything spent by all parties at the 2024 general election. Both men are registered as voters in the UK, which under existing rules makes the gifts lawful despite their living overseas; Farage has said the pair moved quickly to donate before any new curbs could take effect.
Rayner told broadcasters that a bill already before Parliament, drawn up in response to the Rycroft review published in March, would restrict overseas donations and could be applied retrospectively, potentially catching money already handed over. She said democracy should not be for sale to the wealthy, telling Sky News that people who neither pay tax nor live in Britain should not be able to buy influence over its politics, and later told the BBC's Laura Kuenssberg that the legislation would indeed have retrospective effect. Pressed on Labour's own reliance on trade union funding, she argued the two were not comparable, since union money is drawn from millions of ordinary members rather than individual billionaires.
Reform UK has defended the donations, saying Harborne and Delo want nothing in return and that neither will receive an honour or government contract should the party take power. Delo said his gift was meant to level the financial playing field with the more established parties, while Harborne described his donation as a philanthropic contribution to the country. The row comes alongside other scrutiny of Reform's finances: Farage is already under investigation by the Parliamentary Standards Commissioner over a separate, previously undeclared £5 million personal gift from Harborne, the Metropolitan Police is looking into claims aired by Channel 4 that party aides tried to solicit illegal foreign donations – a sting that led to the resignation of two senior Farage aides – and questions have also been raised over Harborne's funding of a protest linked to the Chagos Islands.
Where outlets differ
Source 1 (Daily Mail) states that 'Prime Minister Andy Burnham' refused to back a backbench move to extend donation caps to domestic gifts – an attribution not corroborated by Source 2 and seemingly inconsistent with Keir Starmer being prime minister, so this detail was treated cautiously and left out of the main account.
Source 2 (The Independent) gives much fuller detail on the legal mechanism, including the Rycroft review, the 25 March publication date and Rayner's confirmation that the law would be retrospective/backdated; Source 1 mentions the £100,000 overseas cap but not this backdating detail.
Source 2 includes Rayner's exchange with Laura Kuenssberg defending Labour's union funding as distinct from billionaire donations – an exchange absent from Source 1.
Source 1 provides background on Ben Delo's US Bank Secrecy Act conviction and pardon by Donald Trump, which Source 2 does not mention.
Source 2 goes into more depth on the wider scandal context – the Metropolitan Police investigation, the Channel 4 sting, the resignations of Dan Jukes and James Orr, and the Chagos Islands funding question – detail that is only partially present or cut off in Source 1.
More coverage
- The Independent — Reform could face action over £72m crypto donations, Rayner warns
- The Independent — Labour’s crackdown on Reform donations is a bid to save democracy – and itself
- Sky News — Reform 'very confident' £72m donations were legal – but Rayner warns of 'backdated' action
- Daily Mail — Labour is accused of trying to 'punish' Reform with law that could force it to return its £72million in donations