Labour MP Neil Duncan-Jordan has called for a cap on political donations, warning that British democracy risks being shaped by a small number of extremely wealthy individuals after Reform UK received £72 million from two cryptocurrency billionaires in just 48 hours.
Duncan-Jordan said:
“If you have a politics funded by billionaires, you get a country shaped around their interests.”
He added:
“I think that’s wrong – and leaves working families worse off. We need a cap on political donations. Our democracy shouldn’t be for sale.”
His intervention follows two record-breaking £36 million donations to Reform UK from Ben Delo and Christopher Harborne. Together, the pair have injected £72 million into Nigel Farage’s party, intensifying calls for tighter controls on the influence of mega-donors in British politics.
Record-breaking donations to Reform
Delo, the co-founder of cryptocurrency exchange BitMEX, announced a £36 million donation to Reform before Harborne matched the amount a day later.
The two contributions are jointly the largest single donations ever made to a UK political party. Reform has said the money will be used to expand its campaign operation ahead of the next general election, including hiring hundreds of campaign staff.
Delo was convicted in the United States in 2022 after pleading guilty to failing to maintain an adequate anti-money-laundering programme at BitMEX. He was later pardoned by Donald Trump.
Reform has said both donations comply with existing electoral law.
Growing calls for reform
The scale of the donations has triggered a wider debate about whether Britain should impose a limit on how much any individual can give to a political party.
Labour MP Stella Creasy has proposed an annual cap of £100,000 on most domestic donations, while campaign groups have warned that unrestricted mega-donations risk allowing wealthy individuals to exert disproportionate influence over elections and public policy.
The Government is already tightening rules governing some donations from British citizens living overseas or recently returned to the UK, but ministers have not yet committed to a universal cap on domestic donations.
Reform insists donations are lawful
Reform has strongly defended its right to accept the money.
Farage said he was “honoured and humbled” by the support, while the party has insisted that both donors are British citizens legally entitled to participate in the political process.
Delo has said his objective is to create what he regards as a more level electoral playing field, while Reform argues the funding will allow it to compete with the established parties on a national scale.
Wider scrutiny of political money
The row comes amid heightened scrutiny of political funding more broadly.
Reform is already facing questions over separate allegations concerning overseas funding, which it denies, while Farage is the subject of a parliamentary standards investigation over an undeclared £5 million personal gift from Harborne.
That wider context has strengthened calls from MPs across several parties for tougher safeguards.
Duncan-Jordan: democracy should not depend on wealth
For Duncan-Jordan, the issue goes beyond Reform itself.
His argument is that no political party should become excessively dependent on the financial backing of a handful of wealthy individuals, regardless of which party benefits.
The debate now facing Parliament is whether Britain should continue allowing donations of virtually unlimited size — or introduce a cap designed to ensure elections are decided by voters rather than by whoever can write the largest cheque.
