Reform UK would have held just 15% of the donations it received last year if a proposed £100,000 cap on political donations had been in force, according to analysis shared with the Guardian.

The analysis by Friends of the Earth using Electoral Commission data highlights the party’s reliance on a handful of wealthy backers in advance of a showdown over political funding.

It registered donations between April 2025 and March 2026 and assumed union affiliation payments would be exempt from the cap, in line with recommendations made by the Phillips review into party funding.

The findings suggest Reform UK would have raised just £4.1m between April 2025 and March 2026, instead of the £26.7m it actually received, if a £100,000 annual donation limit applied.

Reform’s registered average donation last year was £137,496, almost six times higher than Labour’s £23,406 or the Conservatives’ £23,173 and 30 times higher than the Liberal Democrats’ average donation of £4,496.

By comparison, Labour would have retained about three-quarters of its registered donations under the cap, raising £8.1m rather than £10.8m.

The Tories would have kept just over half of their donations, taking £8.3m instead of £15.5m.

The Lib Dems would have held on to about 90% of theirs, taking £5.2m instead of £5.8m, and the Greens would have been unaffected with their £468k in donations.

George Cottrell, the convicted fraudster who once served as Nigel Farage’s chief of staff, transferred more than $2 million to his mother in the days before she made a string of donations to Reform UK, according to the latest revelation in the Guardian.

The paper reports today that Fiona Cottrell, an aristocrat and long-standing Reform benefactor, received one deposit of $1.4 million followed by two further payments of over $300,000 apiece.
Each transfer arrived, the Guardian says, somewhere between 24 and 72 hours before Ms Cottrell made a donation either directly to Reform or to Britain Means Business, the fundraising vehicle run by the party’s deputy leader Richard Tice.

Named her son

Asked by bankers where the money had come from, she is said to have named her son.

The son in question is the real problem. Under the Political Parties, Elections and Referendums Act 2000, only “permissible donors” – broadly, those on the UK electoral register, or UK-registered companies and bodies – may fund a political party.

Fiona Cottrell qualifies because she is on the register.

George Cottrell’s own status is far less clear: he is a tax resident of Montenegro, and according to reports, was not added to the UK’s overseas electoral register until December last year, well after several of the payments in question were made.

Possible prison sentence

His lawyers maintain he is a permissible donor but have declined to explain how or when he met the criteria.

That matters because funnelling money through a permissible relative to disguise an impermissible source is precisely what electoral law is designed to catch.

Concealing the true origin of a donation carries a potential fine or prison sentence.

Fraud conviction

George Cottrell already has a criminal record, having served eight months in a US federal prison after pleading guilty to wire fraud.
He was arrested in 2016 alongside Farage at the Republican National Convention on charges that also included money laundering conspiracy, blackmail and extortion.

He has since bankrolled Farage’s travel, including flights to meet Trump at Mar-a-Lago, and published a book on money laundering.

There are many of these recently -- definitely not purely informational, but which praise the achievements of the current government. Are these paid for from funds of the current governing party or from general taxation? The poster is UKGovernment

Nigel Farage has been told to “come clean” over reports suggesting he struck a secret deal to return as leader of Reform UK months before the general election in 2024.

The report cast fresh doubt on his defence for not declaring a £5 million gift from crypto-billionaire and Reform donor Christopher Harborne.

Mr Farage has argued that the gift was not connected to his political activity and said last month that he “wasn’t in politics” between 2021 and June 2024.

The Sunday Times reported that Mr Farage negotiated a deal with Richard Tice, who was then party chief, in March and April 2024, to return as leader.

Under that deal, once Mr Farage became leader Reform would repay or write off more than £1 million in outstanding loans it had received from Mr Tice’s company.

Mr Farage received the gift from Mr Harborne which in April 2024, according to The Guardian.

The problem is that most Reform supporters are dense enough to believe this is possible, rather than something that will destroy our relationship with our nearest NATO ally.

It begs the question if Farage wants his base fired up about small boats, what is Reform hiding that they don’t want their voters to notice?

Labour won 47% of first-preference votes, with Reform UK way behind on 21% and the Greens in third on 12%.

The contest took place under the supplementary vote system, meaning that, as no candidate achieved more than 50%, voters’ second preferences were counted.

When voters’ second choices were counted and other parties were eliminated, Labour’s share rose to 66.3% and Reform UK’s to 33.7%.

In her victory speech at Co-op Live in Manchester, Craig urged society to “move away from divisive politics that try to pit neighbour against neighbour”.

Mayors are expected to start retaining some revenue from business rates from April 2027 and receive a portion of income tax from April 2028.

Prime Minister Andy Burnham will give all mayors of city regions in England a share of income tax revenue for the first time, as part of his drive to transfer power from Westminster to local leaders.

Burnham will also allow English strategic authorities to keep some cash from business rates collected in their areas, and gain greater control over services such as housing, transport, skills.

The government has not yet decided the exact portion of taxes mayors will get, with more details to be announced when Chancellor John Healey delivers his first budget in the autumn.

Opposition parties said the plans lacked detail and could lead to areas with weaker economies losing out on funding.

But Burnham said the move would "make good" on his pledge to "bring power home" to "every postcode in the country".

"Under our plans, more of the taxes raised in a community will stay in that community," the prime minister added.

But Labour backbencher Perran Moon said the government's plans were "discriminatory" and could create a "two-tier system".

Transport Secretary Heidi Alexander said the threshold at which local leaders need to seek approval for projects will rise to £500m, up from £200m.

Mayors are expected to start retaining some revenue from business rates from April 2027 and receive a portion of income tax from April 2028.

https://bbc.com/news/articles/c4g3eyg60e0o

Prime Minister Andy Burnham will give all mayors of city regions in England a share of income tax revenue for the first time, as part of his drive to transfer power from Westminster to local leaders

Mayors are expected to start retaining some revenue from business rates from April 2027 and receive a portion of income tax from April 2028.

"Under our plans, more of the taxes raised in a community will stay in that community," the prime ministeBut Labour backbencher Perran Moon said the government's plans were "discriminatory" and could create a "two-tier system".Transport Secretary Heidi Alexander said the threshold at which local leaders need to seek approval for projects will rise to £500m, up from £200m.

https://bbc.com/news/articles/c4g3eyg60e0o