In a Guardian comment piece, Heather Stewart argues that the UK must cap political donations to prevent a small group of wealthy mega-donors from buying political influence. The intervention comes as Labour's "clean up politics" bill returns to the House of Commons, amid growing scrutiny of the financing of Reform UK and Nigel Farage's wealthy backers, and against a backdrop of concern that Silicon Valley billionaires are increasingly aligning themselves with far-right politics. Stewart contends that if Keir Starmer, now in his final acts as prime minister, will not toughen the rules, his successor should.

The article notes that Starmer's representation of the people bill already makes progress, barring foreign companies from donating unless they have UK revenues and requiring parties to check their funding sources more rigorously. However, Labour MPs have tabled amendments to strengthen it: Liam Byrne wants the temporary ban on crypto donations made permanent, Yuan Yang is calling for greater scrutiny of new parties' finances, and Anneliese Dodds wants limits on overall campaign spending. Stewart cites an Institute for Public Policy Research report warning of a "dangerous nexus" between extractive Silicon Valley capital and a global network of ethnonationalists, pointing to Elon Musk's open backing of Restore Britain MP Rupert Lowe and his amplification of once-fringe views on X.