Labour MPs seek cap on political donations

Labour MPs are proposing a cap on UK-based donations to political parties that they believe Andy Burnham will support in some form if he becomes the next prime minister.

One Labour MP, Alex Sobel is putting forward a plan to cap political donations at £1m in an amendment to a bill that is back in Parliament this month.

There are currently no restrictions on the amount of money UK-based donors can give to political parties and politicians.

Labour MPs are confident a donations cap will be backed by dozens of MPs including Burnham, who is widely expected to replace Prime Minister Sir Keir Starmer later this month.

But Sir Keir has not supported such a cap and the bill that could introduce it is due to finish its remaining stages in the House of Commons before Burnham is expected to take over as prime minister on 20 July.

The Starmer government could pull the bill and wait until the next prime minister takes office.

Or if Burnham becomes prime minister, he could try to bring in a cap on donations once the bill has progressed to the House of Lords.

Burnham has said “there should be a cap on political donations” in an email seen by the BBC.

In an email exchange in May, when Burnham was campaigning as Labour’s candidate in the Makerfield by-election, he responded to questions about his view on capping donations from Shaun Bowler, the founder of WakeUpGB, a grassroots campaign.

In one email, Burnham said a donations cap “would guard against the perception of any one party being unduly influenced or swayed by one person or organisation”.

“As to the level, I think that would have to be subject to wider review of political funding but my gut feeling would suggest somewhere in the region of £500k,” Burnham wrote.

UK political parties reported accepting £20.7m in donations during the first three months of 2026, according to the Electoral Commission.

Reform UK received the most money from donors in that period, bringing in £9.2m, with much of that coming from two wealthy backers, Christopher Harborne and Ben Delo.

Last year, Harborne donated £9m to Reform UK – the biggest single donation to a UK political party by a living person.

The Electoral Reform Society, a campaign group, says the lack of a cap on UK donations “means that a handful of very wealthy individuals can continue to assert undue influence over our politics”.

Sobel’s £1m cap has been proposed as an amendment to the Representation of the People Bill, which is currently making its way through the House of Commons.

He said under his amendment, the government could reduce the cap following a transitional period ending in 2029.

Sobel’s proposed cap only applies to individual donors, with collective organisations, such as trade unions – traditionally Labour’s biggest donors – not in scope.

Another amendment that also suggests capping political donations has been tabled by the Liberal Democrats and has been signed by a handful of Labour MPs, including Dr Simon Opher.

Opher suggested a cap of £50,000, subject to review, “some sort of public funding for political parties”.

“There’s no way that politicians or parties ought to be able to take bungs of hundreds of thousands of pounds, either publicly or privately,” Opher said. “It’s the 21st century and we are better than that.”

Transparency International, an anti-corruption campaign, wants the government to go further as well.

“The Representation of the People Bill takes some welcome steps, but it stops short of the one reform that matters most: a cap on how much any single donor can give,” said Duncan Hames, senior director of policy and programmes.

“Without it, the wealthiest will still be able to buy influence over our democracy in a way ordinary voters never could.”

The government has already used the bill to propose a £100,000 annual cap on political donations from British citizens living overseas.

Ministers are also planning to ban cryptocurrency donations to political parties, as part of the government’s response to a review of foreign financial interference in British politics.

But Reform UK has criticised these planned restrictions on donors, accusing Labour of “choking off legal funding for its main rival”.

Reform and its key donors have suggested Labour is attempting to frustrate its fundraising efforts ahead of the next general election.

Speaking to the Telegraph in April, Harborne, a Thailand-based businessman, claimed he was “the reason” the government had announced a £100,000 cap on donations from British citizens living overseas.

He told the newspaper he believed he could challenge the cap in court and has not ruled out returning to the UK to get around it.

During the 2024 general election, the Labour Party received more donations than all the other parties combined, taking in £9.5m in total.

More than £8m of Labour’s donations came from 10 sources.

They included: two trade unions, the former Autoglass boss Gary Lubner, hedge fund managers Martin Taylor and Stuart Roden, the sculptor Antony Gormley, the production company Toledo Productions, tech investor Danny Luhde-Thompson and former professional poker player Derek Webb, who founded the Campaign for Fairer Gambling.