PM told to tighten rules on party donations amid fears over Musk

Exclusive UK elections watchdog calls for change after tycoon meets Farage

- Pippa Crerar

Keir Starmer must strengthen the rules on political donations to protect the UK electoral system from foreign interference, the Electoral Commission has said, amid rising concerns over Elon Musk's plans to donate millions of pounds to Reform UK.

Vijay Rangarajan, the chief executive of the elections watchdog, said that linking donations to political parties to the UK profits of companies owned by foreigners was one of the urgent changes needed to retain the trust of voters.

The move, which the Guardian understands is being considered by the government, could cap the amount that Musk - the world's richest man - could potentially donate through the British arm of his social media company X. Twitter UK Ltd's latest publicly available accounts show that it had pre-tax profits of £8.5m in 2022, on a turnover of £205m, substantially lower than the $100m (£80m) that Musk was initially said to be willing to donate.

After a meeting with Musk this week at Mar-a-Lago, Donald Trump's Florida estate, Nigel Farage, the Reform UK leader, said that the multibillionaire was giving "serious thought" to bankrolling the party.

The prospect has been met with alarm inside the Labour government, with sources suggesting it would "not be within the spirit" of the existing party funding rules and underlined the need for the legislation to be tightened up.

Electoral law in the UK currently stipulates that all donations and loans to political parties worth more than £500 should come from "permissible donors" registered in the UK. These include voters on the electoral register or companies registered in the UK.