Reform could face action over £72m crypto donations, Rayner warns

Angela Rayner has suggested that two mega donations to Reform UK could be ruled illegal under new laws being pushed through parliament which will be “backdated”.

The housing secretary was reacting to £72m in donations from two crypto billionaires – Ben Delo and Christopher Harborne –- for Nigel Farage’s party given on Friday and Saturday in two lumps of £36m.

With fears that the money from billionaires could distort British politics, Ms Rayner warned that Reform should not count on keeping the money with a new law Labour is pushing through parliament.

She told Sky News: “The important thing, and the reason why we've got a bill going through Parliament at the moment, is that we need to have secure elections that are for the people, and that you can't buy your way into our democracy.

“That's why the Rycroft review was set up, and we've already taken action against overseas donations, which will be backdated to when the Rycroft was published.”

She went on: “It will be backdated. As this bill goes through Parliament, we're really clear on overseas donations and also about those that have recently returned to the UK that are also within the scope of the Rycroft review, which was published on the 25 March, and we're really clear that when that was published, and we were making sure that no one could go through any loopholes.”

Pressed on the issue, she doubled down: “We're saying that if you don't pay taxes in, you don't live here, you can't buy your way into our democracy because you're a billionaire.

“It's a really live question for us about making sure that our democracy is about the people and them having a choice, and not about people with billions of pounds being able to buy their way in.”

She noted that Mr Farage is already under investigation by the parliamentary standards commissioner because of a separate £5m donation from Mr Harborne, who until recently was living in Thailand.

Questions have also been asked about Mr Harborne funding a protest over the Chagos Islands which is also connected to Reform UK.

In reference to other parties rewarding their donors, Reform has insisted: “Our donors want nothing and will never be given a peerage, knighthood or a government contract.”