Reform UK banks £10m war chest thanks to crypto investor

Nigel Farage’s Reform UK built its war chest by £10.5m in just three months, figures show.

The right-wing party outstripped all others in donations reported to the Electoral Commission in the third quarter of the year.

The sum received is more than four times higher than that of the Labour Party, which has had a turbulent run in government so far.

Labour’s takings were also trounced by those of Kemi Badenoch’s Conservative Party.

For registered Scotland-only parties, the SNP was miles ahead – but lagged behind its UK-wide rivals by several factors. And none of its cash came from private sources.

The findings come from the watchdog’s latest report and were made ahead of next year's Scottish Parliament and Senedd contests, as well as local elections in England.

Jackie Killeen, director of electoral administration and regulation, said: “The UK political finance system has high levels of transparency, and we know that voters are interested in where parties get their money from. This quarterly publication is an important part of delivering this information for voters.

“However, we know there are parts of the system that need strengthening, and we have been calling for changes to the law for some time.

“The UK Government’s proposed reforms to the political finance regime have the potential to improve the strength of donation controls and help ensure voters can have confidence in the political finance system. We will continue to work with the government so that any changes are evidence based and workable in practice.”

Overall, parties reported taking in more than £24m between July and September. As much as £5.2m of that was in public funds.

The combined total is far higher than the £10m registered during the same period in 2024, and the £11m seen in the previous quarter.

Reform took in just £227,000 in public donations, meaning almost all of its total came from other sources.

This includes £9m from Thailand-based cryptocurrency investor Christopher Harbourne – a former Conservative and Brexit Party donor – in what is one of the largest political donations ever made in the UK.

In second place, the Conservatives registered £7m in donations, including £2.3m of public donations.

For Labour, the total was £2.6m, including £374,000 from the public.

The Lib Dems managed £2.2m, of which half came from public funding.

The SNP’s entire £225,000 total was publicly-funded, as was the £5,900 registered by the Scottish Greens.

Parties are required to report all donations accepted above a threshold of £11,180, and so the figures do not include smaller sums taken in during the period.