Downing Street has denied targeting the record £72 million given to Reform UK from its crypto-billionaire backers with potential “enhanced” checks to prove British residency.
Ministers are considering whether to strengthen proposed laws to force political donors to demonstrate an “ongoing” presence in the country amid reports Ben Delo and Christopher Harborne have already returned to the UK.
The Government has already moved to introduce a £100,000 cap on the amount of money that can be given to parties by UK citizens overseas, which would also apply for the first 12 months after any expats return to the country.
The changes would be backdated to this March, raising questions about whether Reform can keep the twin £36 million donations from Mr Delo and Mr Harborne, British-born billionaires who have been based abroad.
Ministers are now looking at how to further tighten the rules by introducing an “enhanced” residency test requiring donors to demonstrate they have lived in the UK for a certain period, it emerged on Monday.
Asked whether the proposed checks were a bid to prevent Reform UK specifically from using the £72 million it received over the weekend, the Prime Minister’s official spokesman said on Tuesday: “No, I completely reject that.”
No 10 insisted the plans were to ensure people who contribute vast sums to political parties have a stake in the UK.
“There are multiple precedents under successive administrations, particularly to address the risk of people taking action immediately to avoid the new rules,” the spokesman said.
Government sources said details of the potential new enhanced checks would be set out shortly and aligned with broader policy.
Areas that have existing residency requirements include immigration law, welfare and tax. For example, HMRC declares people resident if they have lived in the UK for 183 days a year.
Nigel Farage has acknowledged Reform UK’s record-breaking windfall may fall foul of Government efforts to clamp down on foreign donors, and hit out against the move to apply the new law retrospectively.
Mr Farage told the BBC on Monday he believed the two donations were “compliant” with the law as it stands, but suggested they may not be acceptable as a result of a law change in the Representation of the People Bill, which has now entered committee stage.
Asked whether Mr Delo, who was based in Hong Kong, and Mr Harborne, who has been based in Thailand were UK residents as of March 25, as this would affect their donations, he said: “I’m not going to go into their particular details.
“All I’m going to say is, with the law of the land as it stands, they are both compliant.
“Now, there is talk, and Angela Rayner was talking about this yesterday, there is talk of them retrospectively declaring donations illegally.
“Well, that simply cannot be.”
In an op-ed for the Telegraph later, he threatened to introduce legislation to stop the unions funding Labour should Reform win the next election if Andy Burnham’s administration blocks the £72 million.
“So I would just warn the Labour Party here and now: If you try and ban our donors, we in government would certainly ban funding from the trade unions. I don’t want to go down that route. But it’s something we would be prepared to do,” he wrote.
Reform UK has started using the funding to expand its staff, including doubling its policy team from 10 to 20 and 400 new field agents, with a new online channel also expected to be broadcast over YouTube, The Times reported.
The Government has said it will set up a taskforce to tackle the issue of “mega-donors” after MPs pressed ministers to go further by imposing a general limit that would also cover domestic donations in its draft legislation.
But Communities Secretary Angela Rayner has suggested a wider cap was still on the table, saying she wanted to stop people “being able to overpower and buy their way into democracy”.
The Liberal Democrats, who have been among those calling for a wider cap, said the residency requirements under consideration by ministers would fall short and promised to lay further amendments pushing for stronger action.
“We can’t keep playing whack-a-mole with each new attempt by Farage to sell out our democracy,” the party’s Cabinet Office spokeswoman Lisa Smart MP said.
“Labour’s residency requirements aren’t good enough and the Conservatives simply sat on their hands whilst in power.”
She added: “We’ll be laying amendments in the Lords to institute this donation cap, and tougher rules on what political parties are able to actually spend.”
Read MoreInside The Sanctuary, the shadowy club at the centre of crypto-political power
Reform UK’s £72m crypto tycoon donors could face enhanced residency checks
Defendants fight Trump deportations as noncitizen voting law faces major threat
Number of people claiming Pip hits record 4.1 million ahead of Labour welfare reform
Noah Donohoe inquest jury agree unanimous findings after five days deliberating
Lucy Letby inquiry demands baby monitors and CCTV in hospitals to prevent deaths
