Farage says a Reform UK government would stop unions funding Labour if they block £۷۲m donations
Good morning. Ministers already think that the new laws on political donations, as set out in the version of the representation of the people bill which left the Commons earlier this month, will be enough to block some or all of the donations worth £۷۲m to Reform UK announced at the weekend. But they are still planning further amendments to the legislation, when peers debate their own amendments to the bill, to make the restrictions even tighter. Pippa Crerar, Jessica Elgot and Kiran Stacey have the details here in our overnight splash.
Kiran and Henry Dyer also have written a good explainer about the rules.
Nigel Farage, the Reform UK leader, has hit back. In an article for the Daily Telegraph, he claims that the proposed new laws – which are retrospective in the sense that they will apply from March ۲۰۲۶, when ministers first announced their intention to legislate, not from the moment when the bill gets royal assent, later this year or early next year – are unfair. If the crackdown goes ahead, Reform UK will stop Labour getting money from the trade unions if it wins the next election, he says.
The Unite union alone has given the Labour party over £۵۰m over the course of the last few years. They’ve got the Employment Rights Act, not to mention big pay rises for bus drivers. If anybody is giving money to do political bidding, it’s the trade unions.
So I would just warn the Labour party here and now: If you try and ban our donors, we in government would certainly ban funding from the trade unions. I don’t want to go down that route. But it’s something we would be prepared to do.
Once again, let me be clear. Neither Ben Delo nor Christopher Harborne will be getting membership of the House of Lords. They won’t be getting favours, they won’t be influencing policy. It isn’t happening.
Because unlike the uniparty we are not for sale.
Until recently the trade unions were opposed to caps on the amount individuals can donate to political parties because they feared that would lead to a rightwing government limiting what unions can donate to Labour. The £۷۲m donations to Reform UK have prompted a bit of a rethink, and union leaders are expected to issue a statement later.
Here is the agenda for the day.
Morning: Louise Haigh, the first secretary of state, chairs a political cabinet. Andy Burnham has cancelled engagements today following the death of his father.
۹.۳۰am: The Department for Work and Pensions publishes figures relating to personal independence payment claims and universal credit health claims.
۱۱.۳۰am: Alex Norris, the justice secretary, takes questions in the Commons.
Noon: Downing Street holds a lobby briefing.
After ۱۲.۳۰pm: Yvette Cooper, the health secretary, is expected to make a Commons statement following the publication of the inquiry report into how the nurse Lucy Letby was able to repeatedly kill babies at the Countess of Chester hospital.
۲.۴۵pm: Shabana Mahmood, the home secretary, takes questions from the Commons home affairs committee.
۳.۴۵pm: Haigh addresses the TUC conference, standing in for Burnham.
Also today, in Piddlington, a small Oxfordshire village, residents are holding a symbolic independence referendum, as a protest against plans to house more than ۱,۰۰۰ asylum seekers in a former military base nearby.
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