Farage defends £72m Reform UK donations as government weighs donor cap

Government plans £100,000 cap on overseas Briton donations

The BBC’s political editor framed the controversy around two questions: “how should political parties be paid for, and by who?” and “what is a legitimate donation and what isn’t?” In his first BBC interview since the donations became public, Farage said the money from both men was legal under the law as it stands, but grew equivocal when asked whether the same gifts would be legal under legislation the government hopes to pass.

“Both these donations are 100% compliant with the law today, of that there is no question whatsoever,” Farage told the BBC. When the BBC’s political editor replied “Ah, today,” Farage pressed on: “Retrospectively declaring donations illegal — that simply cannot be. You cannot confiscate money that has been given legally within the law as it stands.” The BBC’s political editor characterized Farage’s argument as “a political, perhaps moral argument, but not a legal one — if the government changes the law, the law of the land will have changed, possibly with consequences for whether those donations are legal.”

Under current UK law, there is no cap on what an individual registered to vote in the UK can give to a political party, whether that person lives in Britain or abroad. The government has been planning a change for months that would impose a £100,000 annual limit on donations from British voters living overseas, backdated to March 25, 2026. The law has not yet changed, and key details — including what residency requirements would need to be met for a returning Briton to be classified as no longer “abroad” — have not been decided.

The March 25 backdate traces to the publication of a review by retired civil servant Philip Rycroft, whose first recommendation was that there should be “an annual cap on political donations from British voters living abroad.” On the same day, then-cabinet minister Steve Reed told the Commons the cap would be £100,000 per year and would “apply retrospectively” from that date, even though the legislation to enforce it has not yet passed.

The BBC’s political editor wrote: “Two big questions arise from this plan: is it proportionate to limit what British folk abroad can donate to UK political parties, given they are arguably less invested in the country than people living here? And is it unfair, even morally questionable, to pass a law, but then backdate when its impact begins?”

Delo and Harborne, who had until recently lived in Hong Kong and Thailand respectively, have both now returned to the UK. The exact timing of their returns is unknown — Reform UK has not disclosed it, and the government has yet to set the legal test for residency. The BBC’s political editor posed possible residency tests as questions, including whether it would require being on the electoral roll at a UK address or being UK-resident for tax purposes.

In the House of Lords, Communities Minister Baroness Taylor said Britons returning from abroad who want to donate without limit “must demonstrate a genuine and ongoing connection to the United Kingdom.” The government is “considering how we will strengthen the residency requirements, including ensuring that the length of time spent in the UK aligns with broader government policy,” she added. The BBC’s political editor wrote that the hurdles the government has in mind, while still ill-defined, “look like they might be quite high,” and that “folk in government, publicly and privately, are leaning into making that point.”

He then asked the open question hanging over the controversy: “Do Delo and Harborne clear them, and if they don’t, for how long could that delay Reform getting hold of their vast sums of money?”

Farage has clashed with the government over its plans. He told the BBC that a Reform government would cut off party funding from trade unions if ministers moved to restrict his donors’ giving. By comparison, Labour received £5 million from affiliated unions in 2025 and £12 million in 2024, the year of the last general election.

The debate has prompted wider questions about political finance reform. Unite’s general secretary has suggested a domestic donation cap somewhere between £500,000 and £1 million per year, which supporters argue would push parties toward many small donors rather than a few large ones. The BBC’s political editor wrote that such a cap could also prompt calls for state funding of political parties — with taxpayers picking up the tab — an idea that “may not prove wildly popular.”

Additional unresolved questions include whether there should be a limit on what donors based in the UK can give per year, as well as a cap on donations from Brits abroad; whether there should be a cap on the proportion of a party’s funding that can come from a single individual; and whether spending limits between elections should be tightened on top of existing pre-election limits.

For now, the donations remain legal under the statute as written. The BBC’s political editor wrote that the controversy “is transforming the debates at Westminster about politics and money” and observed that “all of the political parties are aware of their own narrow, self-interest in all of this — as well as their own sense of the wider good.”