Trade unions are pressing Andy Burnham to respond to £72 million in donations made to Reform, as ministers prepare to back restrictions on political funding from overseas donors.
Paul Nowak, general secretary of the Trades Union Congress, said the contributions from cryptocurrency billionaires Christopher Harborne and Ben Delo highlighted the growing influence of the “super-rich” over British politics.
Speaking on BBC Radio 4’s Today programme before addressing the TUC conference in Brighton, Mr Nowak was asked whether the donations should be blocked retrospectively.
“I’m not quite sure what the detail of the law would look like, but I am quite sure about this,” he said. “Nobody can be comfortable about the prospect of the super-rich effectively buying and selling British politics.”
He added: “This is the Americafication of our politics and I don’t say that in a good way.”
Mr Nowak rejected comparisons between the Reform donations and trade union funding for Labour, arguing that unions were open organisations representing millions of working people.
“I am concerned about the impact of these huge donations. As far as I’m concerned trade union money is the cleanest most transparent money in British politics,” he said.
The intervention followed warnings from Communities Secretary Angela Rayner that planned rules on overseas political donations would be backdated. The proposals, contained in the Representation of the People Bill, are due to be debated in the House of Lords.
Under the measures, people living overseas, or those who have recently returned to the UK, could be limited to donating £100,000 a year. A minimum residency period could also prevent returning expatriates from avoiding the restriction during a calendar year.
Ms Rayner said the rules would apply to donations received since March 25, when the Government published a review of foreign influence in politics by former mandarin Philip Rycroft.
“Look, we’re saying that if you don’t pay taxes, if you don’t live here, you can’t buy your way into our democracy,” she said.
She said she did not know the individual circumstances surrounding Reform’s donations, but warned that contributions failing to comply with the new rules would have to be returned within 60 days.
Mr Harborne, who was based in Thailand, and Mr Delo, who lived in Hong Kong, are understood to have moved back to Britain before the March cut-off date.
Richard Tice, Reform’s deputy leader, accused Labour of “hyperventilating hypocrisy” and said the donations had been made in accordance with the rules in force at the time.
“What these two donations are trying to do is to actually level the playing field,” he told ITV’s Good Morning Britain, arguing that Reform had not received the large contributions available to Labour and the Conservatives over the previous five to 10 years.
Mr Tice said the donors would have “absolutely zero” influence over Reform’s policies, adding: “They haven’t made any asks, they haven’t made demands and nothing would be given in return, we’ve made that crystal clear.”
