Starmer must protect elections from foreign interference, says watchdog
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Exclusive: Electoral Commission wants law changed amid concern over Elon Musk’s plan to donate to Reform UK. Keir Starmer must strengthen the rules around political donations to protect the electoral system from foreign interference, the Electoral Commission has said, amid rising concerns about Elon Musk’s plans to donate millions of pounds to Reform UK.
Vijay Rangarajan, chief executive of the elections watchdog, said that linking donations to political parties to the UK profits of companies owned by foreigners was one of the urgent changes needed to retain the trust of voters. The move, which the Guardian understands is being considered by the government, could cap the amount that Musk, the world’s richest man, could donate through the British arm of his social media company X (formerly Twitter).
Twitter UK’s latest publicly available accounts show pre-tax profits of £8.5m in 2022, on a turnover of £205m, substantially lower than the $100m (about £79m) that Musk was initially said to be willing to donate. After a meeting with Musk this week at Mar-a-Lago, Donald Trump’s Florida estate, Nigel Farage, the Reform UK leader, said the multi-billionaire was giving “serious thought” to bankrolling the party.
The prospect has been met with alarm inside the Labour government, with sources suggesting that it would “not be within the spirit” of the existing party funding rules and underlined the need for the legislation to be tightened up. Electoral law in the UK currently stipulates that all donations and loans to political parties worth more than £500 should come from “permissible donors” registered in the UK. These include voters on the electoral register or companies registered in the UK.
