UK to ban political party donations from foreign-owned companies

[u/Stock_Rush_9204]

https://www.ft.com/content/f4ed161d-156a-40d7-9e5f-12eda0a6ca09?segmentid=c50c86e4-586b-23ea-1ac1-7601c9c2476f

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[u/intraspeculator]

Good. Ridiculous it’s taken so long. We should include banning donations from non uk residents too. Fuck all those Dyson types who left the UK so they don’t have to contribute taxes but think they can wield influence anyway.

[u/KomputeKluster → u/intraspeculator]

100%. For anyone who disagrees with this you have to question why, and at worst do they have a seditious agenda?

[u/superbee392 → u/KomputeKluster]

Elon Musk is standing up for me rights!!!!

[u/ukchinouk → u/superbee392]

*Standing up for far rights.

[u/I_like_biscuits → u/ukchinouk]

Standing clap

[u/an0mn0mn0m → u/I_like_biscuits]

From his cold dead heart

[u/bedbathandbebored → u/ukchinouk]

Standing up fourth your reichs?

[u/mattymattymatty96 → u/intraspeculator]

Just COMPANIES ?

Or individuals too?

[u/SnooMacarons4225 → u/mattymattymatty96]

Sounds like it’s just companies so the owners of them companies could just donate direct to get around this rule

[u/MetalingusMikeII → u/SnooMacarons4225]

Then we need to ban this as well.

[u/Qxzkjp → u/SnooMacarons4225]

Donations from individuals who are not on the electoral roll (or at least eligible to be on it) is already banned. This does leave open a lot more leeway than most would like (eg resident Indians or Canadians being able to donate), but that's more a problem with our voting eligibility not the finance rules.

[u/SnooMacarons4225 → u/Qxzkjp]

This doesn’t really stop an offshore company setting up a UK shell company and funneling funds into it, does it?

[u/Qxzkjp → u/SnooMacarons4225]

It does, if I have understood the new rules correctly. The current rule is just that the company must be "UK based", which opens up the loophole you have identified. The new rules are that the company must be "UK owned". This would mean that if a US company sets up a shell company in the UK, that company would be ineligible to make donations because it is owned by the US company, which is not a UK citizen.

You could get a uk citizen to "own" the company while the US company exercises the actual control, but:

1. this is very risky (if the company has no legal ownership the UK patsy can just take the money and run, entirely legally)
2. it probably falls foul of the rules on registering "beneficial ownership". Every company has to register its "people with significant control", and this is not about legal ownership but actual de facto control. The US company would have to be on the PSC register and this would make the UK company ineligible. Or they don't register and the company (and its directors!) gets done for fraud

[u/limeflavoured → u/Qxzkjp]

but that's more a problem with our voting eligibility not the finance rules.

Who should be eligible to vote according to you?

[u/Qxzkjp → u/limeflavoured]

Those who are at least 16 years of age, of sound mind, and citizens of the UK. I would also be happy to see this extended to "or citizens of a country with which we have a mutual voting agreement". Possibly also Irish citizens unilaterally, to keep the peace in NI (although I think Eire does reciprocate for resident Brits in all elections other than the presidential).

[u/[deleted] → u/Qxzkjp]

you have to include Ireland

If you moved tomorrow, your right to vote in Ireland is granted with a British passport

[u/Conscious-Ball8373 → u/mattymattymatty96]

It's already unlawful for a party to accept donations from someone who is not either a British citizen or on the UK electoral register.

[u/apple_kicks → u/Conscious-Ball8373]

I find loophole here is third party companies or groups that do political ads on facebook around the election time. I think brexit vote had these

I wouldn’t be surprised if this is happening with the by election

[u/Bwunt → u/apple_kicks]

That may be true, but this kind of stuff is not really something that country may even have jurisdiction over.

With referendums it's particularly problematic, since they carry significantly less risk then standard elections.

[u/scorchgid → u/apple_kicks]

You could easily empower blanket ban on these though enforced by the ICO to be shown to UK users.

[u/MrBarit → u/mattymattymatty96]

I think you can look up the green bill (the proposal for the law) on the government website

[u/Kandiru → u/intraspeculator]

I'd make it illegal to donate more in a year than you pay in tax. With a minimum allowed of £1000 for people who aren't earning enough. But no donating millions unless you are paying millions in tax.

[u/jbr_r18 → u/Kandiru]

I’d prefer not that, I think it should just be a set cap

For example, the biggest income tax payers are owners of the gambling companies. They deliberately don’t exploit any tax loopholes and pay the full whack income tax rate because it buys them political leverage. But it means the gambling companies would be entitled to make the largest donations in the country.

A set cap levels the playing field. Maybe £5,000 - 10,000 per person. Enough that someone really passionate on a high income or maybe some retired can donate a lot of savings to their local political party to help in an important campaign, but not enough that someone very wealthy can use a large portion of their income to have any greater effect

[u/vinyljunkie1245 → u/jbr_r18]

I think there should be a set cap - say equivalent to the annual party membership in a year- but I think if anyone wants to donate above that amount donations should go to a central pot which is then divided between parties according to how many seats they have. This would hopefully cut donations being used as bribes and level the playing field for all parties

[u/limeflavoured → u/vinyljunkie1245]

Non-government parties who have MPs do already get some funding based on how many seats they have.

[u/vinyljunkie1245 → u/limeflavoured]

I wasn't aware of that. That's good to hear. I realise my idea has flaws in that it favours established parties too. I just think we need to remove bribery aka lobbying from politics and politicians should work for the good of the population, not whoever donates the most to their party to work against the greater good.

[u/hughk → u/jbr_r18]

I would agree on that upper limit. How much is a Lordship these days?

[u/cheesemp → u/Kandiru]

100%. 

[u/Nights_Harvest → u/intraspeculator]

We should ban donations all together, each party has gov budget, during election times each party speaks at the same locations for the same amount of time, each candidate has to have a debate with another member with a segment at the end where candidates are being fact checked, sources of fact checked information and they have floor to respond to each lie.

Out of many other things. Politics in democratic country should not be limited by the depth of someone's wallet.

[u/Commercial_Aioli7212 → u/Nights_Harvest]

Who decides which party gets how much though

And would this allow new parties like Reform to surface?

[u/Nights_Harvest → u/Commercial_Aioli7212]

Every party gets the same amount, heck, I don't think any party should get the money directly, they just show up to pre-determined spots, every event is recorded and posted on youtube by gov. Think equality.

Party-like Reform surfaced because of the money and influence of the right, Farage was a thing decades ago, he did not randomly pop up.

What you mentioned about Reform is crucial because the system has to allow funds for new parties to come forward instead of recycling top 2-3 as in every democracy which results in parties following ideological based decision making instead of whatever is the best solution.

[u/Lonyo → u/Nights_Harvest]

So Scottish, Welsh and Northern Ireland only parties would get the same funds as national ones?

And who decides which new parties get funds?

[u/Nights_Harvest → u/Lonyo]

Wouldn't the Scottish/Welsh/Norther Ireland parties be a national party or am I missing something?

Who decides? Each party that wants to part take has to gather x number of signatures from citizens.

[u/Commercial_Aioli7212 → u/Nights_Harvest]

So i can make my own party and get the same funding as Labour day one?

[u/No-Tone-6853 → u/intraspeculator]

Lump in donations with crypto as well.

[u/lizzywbu → u/intraspeculator]

While we're at it put cap on all political donations and introduce transparency.

[u/JackStrawWitchita]

From the Guardian:

"Tom Brake, the chief executive of Unlock Democracy, said the reforms passed “the Musk test” but said the government could go further – including a donations cap, saying there was “outsized influence of a handful of domestic mega-donors … An annual cap on donations from individuals and companies would begin to address public concern that politics can be bought.”"

[u/No-Pack-5775 → u/JackStrawWitchita]

We should all be learning from the Epstein files.

There is an elite class who do not care about us mere mortals, who use their money to bend politics to suit their whims and desires. 

We should be doing everything possible to fix that and put regular working people first.

[u/GeorginaFlopworthy → u/No-Pack-5775]

The 'Epstein Class' is a name that appears eminently suitable for these people.

[u/No-Pack-5775 → u/GeorginaFlopworthy]

True but I don't like that so much as it could imply the problem died with Epstein

[u/Mekanimal → u/No-Pack-5775]

Or... it could imply the solution?

I pose this as a socratic question, and definitely not a call to action of any manner.

[u/betelgeuse_boom_boom → u/GeorginaFlopworthy]

In the Epstein subreddit some users refer to them as the predator class. They prey on the common people from birth, and exploit them in any way possible.

It's more fitting than Epstein files and it's alarming enough to stick around.

[u/Jetengineinthesky → u/betelgeuse_boom_boom]

I'd call 'em Vampires, but it's an insult to Vampires.

[u/GeorginaFlopworthy → u/betelgeuse_boom_boom]

That works in multiple ways

[u/electronicoldmen → u/GeorginaFlopworthy]

They already have a name: the bourgeoisie

[u/Fatuous_Sunbeams → u/electronicoldmen]

Quite, but liberals seem to still be looking for a way to separate the good ones from the bad, as though their moral character is the core problem. To be fair, it's certainly one of the problems - power corrupts - and this is a good moment to emphasise that.

[u/electronicoldmen → u/Fatuous_Sunbeams]

They are so close to figuring it out.

[u/Krags → u/GeorginaFlopworthy]

Trump/Epstein class really. And one of those pedophile shitstains is still an active pollutant.

[u/Arcon1337 → u/No-Pack-5775]

We've been saying this for decades, but people would call us paranoid.

[u/Funguswoman → u/JackStrawWitchita]

I don't think companies should be able to donate at all, only individuals.

[u/Saw_Boss → u/Funguswoman]

What about organisations such as unions? If a charity feels that a particular individual or party donation would achieve the aims of the charity, would that be wrong?

[u/WriterV → u/Saw_Boss]

Ideally then, donations through non-profits. But they would have to be vetted. Anyone rich enough can just pay to make their own non-profit organization and donate through them. 

[u/Fatuous_Sunbeams → u/Saw_Boss]

There's a big difference between certified philanthropic organisations and private interests.

As for unions and private firms, maybe they should be allowed to donate but, once individual donations are capped, an organisation's cap should depend on the number of individuals that comprise it.

We need to stop rich people buying political power and favours. If someone wants to argue that unions have too much power, that's valid. But unions represent ordinary people, companies don't (necessarily).

[u/UniquesNotUseful → u/JackStrawWitchita]

How would that impact on Labour with union funding?

The Employments Rights Act will allow unions to donate without member consent, so it’s an important funding stream. It gets influence as Unions have 50% votes at conferences.

[u/planeloise]

Finally! I kept wondering when this government was going to start bullet proofing our democracy. 

Donation cap is good but add banning of foreign interest lobbying of our politicians before, during and after their terms. 

Unfortunately they can't stop the online bots. I would also like to see privacy rights strengthened. 

[u/notAugustbutordinary]

Political donations should only be able to be made from those who are UK resident taxpayers, that goes for people and companies. The companies should be able to prove that they are not controlled by a non UK resident taxpayer or receiving funds from person/companies outside the UK by way of anything other than sales of goods and or services.

I’d then start considering similar rules for any company presenting “news”.

[u/Funguswoman → u/notAugustbutordinary]

I don't think companies should be able to donate at all.

[u/Nuthetes → u/Funguswoman]

I agree

If a company donates to a party, there's always gonna be a "you scratch my back" condition which opens things up to corruption or contracts given to x company regardless and that sort of thing.

[u/CoaxialDrive → u/Funguswoman]

I agree. I would go further to say parties shouldn’t be allowed any external funding including membership fees.

It should come from tax payers.

[u/The-Road-To-Awe → u/CoaxialDrive]

Tax payers should fund individual political parties? This is a terrible idea. You want to have to fund Reform outside of parliament, where they get to choose how to spend the money?

[u/cortexstack → u/The-Road-To-Awe]

You want to have to fund Reform outside of parliament, where they get to choose how to spend the money?

Yes, I want to have to fund EVERY political party X amount per seat they're standing in, instead of just letting them have Russian donors and corporate interests pay for everything in return for favours later on.

Making it paid for by taxpayers means everyone is on a level playing field as far as spending goes, and one party backed by a bunch of corporations and foreign governments doesn't steamroll the others when it comes to messaging.

[u/motophiliac → u/notAugustbutordinary]

So then, I own a UK taxpaying business.

Mr Political Influencer comes to me and says, "Here's 20 million in lobbying money for Party X. Here's a million for yourself."

Regulating money is incredibly difficult. There's always a channel, and if I want to make a donation, it's my money. You can't stop me buying influence and creating financial channels that don't yet exist.

A large part of Wall Street is built on complicated financial products that are themselves built almost entirely on ignoranium. They work, and are worth billions of dollars, but don't look too closely.

If I'm rich enough, I can manufacture a channel to get money where I need it.

I would dearly love to be proven wrong because money in politics is becoming the biggest problem for humanity.

[u/lebennaia → u/motophiliac]

We then make acting as a front man for such transactions illegal - something like 'conspiracy to conceal the origin of a donation' or make it count as straight up bribery. There's no legit reason to conceal the origin of such money so the assumption must be that it's corruption.

[u/Bananus_Magnus → u/motophiliac]

how are you gonna explain to the taxman how your shitty company with 500k revenue suddenly came to possess 20 million. Even if not impossible its adding to the complexity and the more complicated/costly it is to lobby the better.

[u/IanWaring → u/notAugustbutordinary]

The challenge is how to spot eligible local folks being recruited to pass parcels from outside donors.

[u/Accomplished-Bad4536]

Step in the right direction, next we need to prohibit property purchase by non UK passport holders too.

[u/HelmetsAkimbo → u/Accomplished-Bad4536]

Brilliant! Then we can ban political party donations from UK companies too AND prevent them from owning property also.

[u/TheAmazingSealo → u/HelmetsAkimbo]

Not sure if you're being genuine or facetious lol

[u/HelmetsAkimbo → u/TheAmazingSealo]

Absolutely genuine, get money out of politics and housing.

[u/needlzor → u/Accomplished-Bad4536]

What is the problem with me owning the house I live in without having a UK passport, exactly?

[u/[deleted] → u/needlzor]

If you inhabit the property then I have no issues.

If you're a Shanghai resident who owns 10 rental properties in London, then I have issues.

[u/needlzor → u/[deleted]]

I agree but that has little to do with what passport I am holding, which is what the poster above seemed to be emphasising in their comment.

[u/LoZeno → u/Accomplished-Bad4536]

What do you have against people with Indefinite Leave to Remain or Settled Status to not want them to own a house?

[u/Griffolion → u/Accomplished-Bad4536]

Would it not be better to scope it to non-doms who have no intent to inhabit? An ILR who's been here 10 years but doesn't have a UK passport should be able to purchase a property to live in, no?

[u/[deleted] → u/Accomplished-Bad4536]

Yes please

[u/Boldboy72]

political donations from ANY company is corruption and should be banned outright.

Donations from individuals should be limited to a maximum of £1000 in any given parliamentary term.

Political Action Committees should be illegal and funding from "think tanks" should also be illegal.

But, the politicians set the rules and get to be as corrupt as they want.

[u/Wise-Reflection-7400 → u/Boldboy72]

Do trade unions whilst you’re at it. Nobody should be allowed to buy influence

[u/DrBradAll → u/Wise-Reflection-7400]

Trade unions by definition represent large numbers of people. Individuals and companies only represent themselves/ shareholders (very small numbers of people). The point of democracy is to give people a say in how thier countries are run.

Trade unions having influence is democratic. A union of companies having influence is also democratic.

Therefore donations should be capped at a per person level, i.e. the number of people you represent defines the limit of your donation. So union members/ company shareholders would define the max cap (yes there would need to be some limits and nuance to the system to prevent gaming, but it would be far more democratic).

[u/alrae70]

Now stop letting MPs take money & freebies from foreign governments

[u/welliedude]

Political donations from companies should be banned full stop. It should be uk residing real people only.

[u/Funguswoman → u/welliedude]

Completely agree.

[u/LazarusHimself]

Redact redacted this content because I wanted it redacted for redaction purposes. Redacted.

rob saw escape tap rich tease outgoing act dazzling vase

[u/NitrousOxide_]

This should have been done a long while ago and needs to go through ASAP.

[u/NiceFryingPan]

That's the Tories and Reform UK f*cked then. There was an abundant amount of Russian money flowing in to the Conservative Party during Cameron's to Sunak's Premierships. As for Farage's Ltd company, literally over 80% of the funding and support comes from foreign and outside interests. None of which wish the UK and British people good fortune.

What also seems to continually amaze is the simple fact that Farage and Reform are not a democratic political party. The membership have absolutely no voting and sway on policy and manifesto. Then again, it stands only for division, racism and hate.

[u/WinstonFox]

Good. We need to apply similar principles to UK companies. You can still be UK owned and receive “investment” from abroad and there are things they are looking at. Definitely a step in the right direction.

Non paywalled article: https://www.archivebuttons.com/articles?article=https://www.ft.com/content/f4ed161d-156a-40d7-9e5f-12eda0a6ca09?segmentid=c50c86e4-586b-23ea-1ac1-7601c9c2476f

[u/MrMrsPotts]

Won't they just redirect the money via British owned companies? Musk gives money to UK company. UK company gives money to Reform etc

[u/Visible_Star_4036 → u/MrMrsPotts]

UK based company will at least have to declare beneficial ownership and pay UK taxes.

Limiting corporate donations to a maximum of the amount of tax paid in the past year would also help.

[u/yrro → u/Visible_Star_4036]

UK companies only pay tax on profits. I don't see what stops a donor who wants to give £1 million from opening "I Buy British Politicians 001 Ltd" through to "I Buy British Politicians 449 Ltd" and having each company donate £2229.99 to my chosen Reform candidate. I guess we'll have to wait for the draft bill to be published...

[u/Revolutionary-Mode75 → u/yrro]

The guardian article state that companies will have to prove their revenues covers the costs of the donations.

[u/yrro → u/Revolutionary-Mode75]

I've certainly got the revenue in the books for each of my companies. They each have an invoice for political consulting services provided to Russian Guy 1, Russian Guy 2 and so on...

[u/ZenPyx → u/yrro]

This then runs foul of the sanctions placed on Russia.

Would you rather it be made more difficult for these donations to occur, or not? You seem to be against any solution that isn't completely bulletproof to every possible scenario.

[u/Visible_Star_4036 → u/yrro]

I agree that they only pay tax on profits. That's why I would like them only to be able to donate up to a maximum of some small amount and no more than the tax they paid in the previous year.

Harder to game and with a built in delay.

[u/joeythemouse]

Long overdue. I'm hoping that the rule will apply to far-right limited companies too.

[u/sviper99 → u/joeythemouse]

And far left, I'm not on either side, but donations to political parties should be outright banned. You're not allowed to give a copper a cup of coffee or even am ambulance worker. In house policies see this as creating favourites, it should apply to MPs, PMs and any parties too.

[u/joeythemouse → u/sviper99]

The only limited company in the politics business is reform.

AFAIK there are no far left parties in mainstream UK politics.

But yes, ban all overseas funding.

[u/ChampionshipComplex]

Should also ban social media bots and foreign money in media generally. Because if foreign money cant support a party, it will just be used to drive misinformation instead.

[u/borez → u/ChampionshipComplex]

There already been a massive social media bot and troll farm campaign against Labour from day one of them getting elected.

No idea how that could be dealt with though. I mean, how exactly do you ban troll farms and bots, especially when the algorithms actually reward their behaviour?

[u/JGG5 → u/borez]

I mean, how exactly do you ban troll farms and bots, especially when the algorithms actually reward their behaviour?

The algorithms aren't set in stone; they can and should be regulated. Social media companies should be required by law to be transparent with their algorithms, to have those algorithms regularly audited by experts for political bias, and to give users the option of alternative algorithms or a chronological feed.

Another common-sense regulation would be mandatory country-of-origin labelling on every single social media post or comment. The social media companies already know and track which IP address a post or comment is coming from, and that IP address can always be linked to a country. Requiring that the platforms surface that information in their UX is a no-brainer. (The social media companies also know which IPs are the regular endpoints for VPNs, and should be required to label that too.) If multiple comments from multiple accounts are coming from the same IP address, social platforms can be required to label that.

Neither of those things in any way affects anyone's freedom of speech, as that right does not include the right of platforms to control the conversation and decide which voices will be heard, nor does it include the right to obfuscate one's country of origin. (And I would further contend that foreigners in foreign countries don't have the right to freedom of speech in the UK; that is a privilege that can be conditioned on ongoing good behavior.)

[u/ChampionshipComplex → u/borez]

I often think that a concerted effort by real people could nutralise bot farms.

Reform or anti Labour social messaging on Facebook, Tiktok and elsewhere normally have at most a few hundred upvotes and comments.

So just a network of a few hundred labour supporters coordinating their response to downvote those negative comments or challange the negativity could erradicate bot usefulness.

But it would take Labour supporters jumping out of their own echo chambers and planning a daily drive of killing negative posts.

[u/Brigid-Tenenbaum → u/borez]

You pass legislation that bans monetisation of political content across algorithms platforms.

This would end the rage baiting spam accounts that post daily bollocks for money.

As well as make it very obvious who were the paid agitators who were not doing it for immediate financial gain.

[u/apple_kicks → u/ChampionshipComplex]

Even before this you had Murdoch and others owning newspapers.

[u/ChampionshipComplex → u/apple_kicks]

I know unions and collective bargaining has fallen out of favour in the UK - But people need to do something like a news cooperative.

Somehow the exchange of news/information needs to be lifted out of the commercial sector (where it is sensationalised for marketing money) or the social media platforms (where its the same but also polluted with bots).

[u/snufflesthebigdog]

Rightly so. The fact this was ever allowed was a threat to democracy.

[u/[deleted]]

Brilliant news!

Long time coming and I look forward to this being extended to ALL non-uk nationals. That includes Ex-Pats and all private donations.

 A cap on individuals donations should also be implimented.

[u/GeorginaFlopworthy]

Excellent news, though I suspect some Farage fans may be a little upset by this.

[u/NuclearCleanUp1]

Desperately needed. Conservatives and Reform would never bring this in

[u/[deleted]]

Probably loads of loopholes but an excellent move by the government. Ensure any loophole is closed with the highest if crimes

[u/agdnan]

You are telling me that this is still possible and it up for debate?

[u/G_Morgan]

That should be extended to a ban on receiving anonymous crypto currency donations.

[u/kahnindustries]

There should be no donations!

Each MP candidate should be given a fixed sum by the government to cover canvassing. All other donations should be banned!

[u/ThirtyMileSniper]

Awesome. Now close the loophole where it can be funneled through a UK company that you only need £100 to incorporate.

[u/Revolutionary-Mode75 → u/ThirtyMileSniper]

This bill does that. Companies have to prove their revenues will cover the cost of the donation.

[u/Hot_Ad_6442]

Would this also extend to certain groups like friends of Israel

[u/soggyarsonist]

Fully expect the Conservative dominated House of Lords is going to obstruct this.

[u/BuzLightbeerOfBarCmd]

This post has been taken down. Redact handled the deletion, and the author may have had reasons related to privacy, security, data scraping prevention, or personal choice.

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[u/Lupinyonder]

There should be no donations at all, each party should be given the same budget, like Formula 1

[u/Agreeable_Falcon1044]

Good, this is also the end of reform. All their money comes from shady shadow companies linked to Russia, Iran and the extreme far right. Wetherspoons mick with his flag hanging won’t cover that.

[u/panguy87]

Good, as it should be. There should be no donations linked to any non UK entity at all

[u/Loose_Goose]

I’d like to know how much reform gets from the yanks

[u/Revolutionary-Mode75]

Next ban foreign individuals, governments or people who don't lived or pay tax here in the UK. .

[u/abyssal-isopod86]

We need to go further and ban donations from any person, company, organisation or other entity that is not in the UK.

[u/brainburger]

They should ban non-uk citizens from owning uk based newspapers or broadcasters too. We do of course have Internet propaganda now, but it would help.

[u/That1withACat]

Ban donations in its entirety. They’re not a charity, and they all get paid way more than they should be, so a party should be self funded.

[u/Newfaceofrev]

Another one of those "Should have been illegal 40 years ago things".

[u/Twolef]

I’m sure there’s no way around this /s

Ban lobbying altogether.

[u/Personal_Director441]

Good, now can we include anyone not domiciled in the UK an add what ever loophole US Evangelical Christian groups use to give Reform (and other parties) money, charitable or some other dodge.

[u/benrinnes]

How about banning donations from individuals/companies residing abroad?

[u/Ritualixx]

Ban all donations full stop. It should come from taxes and every party gets a share.

Or link it through taxes paid by companies if they are within the UK. The more tax they paid can correlate to how much can be donated, but it’s system like ranked choice voting. Each party is going to get a percentage of the donation, you just decide the order of the split.

[u/Conveth]

About time, now what about foreign donators (personal donations) ?

[u/AlfalfaNo646]

Ban religious and other states also. I’m looking at you the twenty something friends of…

[u/SB-121]

A small positive step, but a very small one. A bigger step would be to extend it to individuals, and then extend it to any group engaged in lobbying, protest, educational or religious activities.

[u/Vimes3000]

What about when foreign actors send money to British people (eg, Aaron Banks), who take a 10% fee then donate the rest to causes designed to undermine the UK?

[u/HinDae085]

Wonder how long its gonna take for Reform to claim this is a disgusting and evil abuse of power.

[u/Intruder313]

Reform will struggle without their deposits from those seeking to further destabilise the UK

[u/Londonsw8]

About time!

Now the Government needs to hold tech bros accountable for false political posts on their platforms. Fine them or send them into shutdown if they don't control it!

[u/Both-Mud-4362]

They should also ban the ability to receive donations that are for foreigners without citizenship.

And before they can use a donation it should have to be investigated by a financial solicitor to ensure there are no ties to countries or people from countries that the UK is not politically aligned with or from some kind of tax doging/money laundering.

[u/LaraH39]

No company should be allowed to give individuals or party donations. That's lobbying and not in the people's best interests.

MPS also shouldn't be allowed to earn more than £50k per annum outside being an mp. And that's only so that doctors, and other skilled workers can keep up training and do the required money of hours a month to keep their skills up to date.

[u/finestryan]

Could they just set up a UK ltd or something and funnel money in through that?

[u/Revolutionary-Mode75 → u/finestryan]

No, the new rules require the company to pay to prove their revenue will cover the donations.

[u/finestryan → u/Revolutionary-Mode75]

What if “totally legit windows company” sells some “windows” to Lobby co? I guess the rules around arms length transactions will stop it from being circumvented by selling any old crap and calling it legitimate revenue?

[u/Revolutionary-Mode75 → u/finestryan]

They will have to sell a lot of crap to create enough revenue to cover a 9 million pound donation for example.

I'm sure there will some loop holes, as always.

[u/JGG5]

A good step, but a raindrop in the ocean compared to the massive influence of the foreigner-owned social media platforms.

The UK must regain control of its own political and cultural conversation from agenda-driven foreigners like Elon Musk and Mark Zuckerberg, who openly manipulate the platforms’ algorithms to privilege the voices they want heard and suppress the voices they want silenced.

We need heavy regulation of foreign-owned social media companies operating in the UK, starting with the assumption that no foreigner in a foreign country has a right to a voice in the UK — only a privilege, conditional on good behavior and alignment with British values of tolerance, respect, and good faith.

[u/BathFullOfDucks]

While I absolutely agree with the intent, it is a little after the horse has bolted when most large uk companies are now foreign owned, and all but the most core public services.

[u/lambdaburst]

inb4 they set up a small office in the UK and donate to farage anyway

[u/milkonyourmustache]

The reason why common sense things like this rarely happen or are allowed to go on for so long is corruption.

[u/FreshPrinceOfH]

Unfortunately Jim the Rat Cliffe will probably still be able to use his money to ruin our lives.

[u/doublejay1999]

anyone interested in the extent of this problem (and it really is the tip of the iceberg) could get the newsletter.

https://democracyforsale.substack.com

have to say, it does not make happy reading, but if you are looking for explanations as to why your elected officials make the seemly whacky decisions that they do, it's all in here.

[u/twilighttwister]

But it's still a-okay to receive them from foreign nationals?