A former attorney general has warned that Labour's plan to retrospectively restrict foreign-based donors could breach the government's own human rights laws, as Downing Street confirmed a crackdown on overseas political donations would apply backdated to 25 March this year. The move appears targeted at two £36 million donations to Reform UK from crypto-billionaires Ben Delo and Christopher Harborne, with critics including Sir Michael Ellis arguing the retrospective approach breaches both the European Convention on Human Rights and natural justice, particularly given election law's criminal penalties.

Under the proposed rules, donations from British citizens based abroad would be capped at £100,000 a year, with donors required to prove 12 months' UK voter registration and demonstrate an "ongoing presence" in the country, possibly through tax payments. Reform has dismissed the plan as an attempt to "bankrupt a political opponent" and has already begun spending the donated funds on recruitment and a planned TV channel, while records suggest both Delo and Harborne have varying histories of UK voter registration that could complicate the law's application to them.