The Trade Union Congress (TUC) has voiced concerns over “stratospheric” donations and the influx of “dark money into UK politics” after Reform UK disclosed it received £72 million from two supporters. The TUC, which represents some of the UK's largest unions, stopped short of advocating for an outright cap on individual donations but urged policymakers to “clean up our politics and strengthen public trust in our democratic system”.
The £72 million donation to Reform UK came from crypto billionaires Christopher Harborne and Ben Delo, who each contributed £36 million within 24 hours. This amount surpasses the total raised by all UK political parties last year, which stood at just over £69 million. Delo, who made the first gift, was previously convicted in the US for failing to implement anti-money laundering controls at BitMEX, a crypto exchange he founded.
In a conference motion titled ‘Cleaner Politics’, approved today, the TUC condemned the flow of “dark money into UK politics with insufficient transparency or regulation”. The government has approved amendments to the Representation of the People Bill to tighten residency rules for donors and is considering if these could apply retrospectively from March 2025, a move that could potentially require Delo and Harborne to return their donations.