Labour could introduce a cap on donations to political parties amid speculation that Elon Musk wants to give $100 million to Reform UK.
It was reported at the weekend that the the billionaire owner of X is planning to make a huge donation to Nigel Farage’s party as a “fuck you” to Keir Starmer.
The pair have had a long-running feud, dating back to the riots in the summer, when Musk claimed “civil war is inevitable” in the UK.
In their election manifesto, Labour vowed to “protect democracy by strengthening the rules around donations to political parties”.
According to The Guardian, the left-leaning Institute for Public Policy Research think-tank will recommend in an upcoming report that individual and corporate donations to political parties should be limited to £100,000 a year.
If ministers were to agree, that would kill off Reform UK’s hopes of a major windfall from Musk, who is friends with the party’s leader, Nigel Farage.
Strict rules are already in place preventing foreign nationals from donating to British political parties.
However, it is claimed Musk could try to funnel his money through X’s arm in order to comply with the law.
Former Tory MP and leading Brexiteer Steve Baker told Times Radio: “It’s plainly wrong to put so much money through a subsidiary, and to do it in this way is plainly against the spirit of the rules.
“But the other thing I would say is no amount of money is going to make Nigel Farage popular with the people who he currently repels.”
A spokesperson for the Ministry of Housing, Communities and Local Government said: “As set out in the manifesto, we are working to strengthen the rules around donations to political parties to ensure we maintain trust in our electoral system. We will set out more details on this in due course.”
