Labour opens door to banning Musk donation with new law

The Government has opened the door to blocking Elon Musk from donating millions of pounds to Reform UK with new laws.

Lucy Powell, the Leader of the House of Commons, suggested the reforms could form part of Government plans to tighten up rules around political donations.

Nigel Farage, the Reform leader, recently revealed that Mr Musk, a tech billionaire and close ally of Donald Trump, is actively considering making a large donation to his party.

There has been speculation that the sum could be in the region of $100 million (£78.8 million).

Labour has since come under pressure to rush through new rules limiting the amount that foreign nationals can donate to British political parties through their UK-based companies.

Asked on Sunday if the Government would change the law to block Mr Musk from making large donations to Reform, Ms Powell said there were no “immediate plans” to do so.

But she opened the door to a future crackdown as part of wider reforms to the UK’s electoral system.

She told Sky News’ Sunday Morning with Trevor Phillips: “We’ve no immediate plans to do that, but we do have a manifesto commitment to look more broadly at our elections regime in this country, from things like votes at 16, which we’re committed to, but also to make sure that our electoral system has got that integrity and is robust from many of the new issues that face undermining our democracy and our elections.

“But just to be clear that foreign donations to UK-based political parties is prohibited under current law, so that’s something that already exists.”

Foreign donations are not allowed in UK politics, but contributions can be made through a “UK-registered company which is incorporated in the UK and carries on business in the UK”, according to Electoral Commission rules.

Given that Mr Musk’s biggest firm, Tesla, made millions in its UK branch this year, he could theoretically make a donation through the company’s British subsidiary.

‘Comitted to changing UK elections’

Pressed on whether the Government could take action during this parliamentary term, Ms Powell suggested the clampdown could feature in an Elections Bill planned for the next parliamentary session, which starts in July.

Labour pledged in its manifesto to “protect democracy by strengthening the rules around donations to political parties”, as well as reducing the voting age to 16.

“We are committed to bringing forward some changes to the way in which elections are run in this country,” she said.

“There will be an Elections Bill probably in the next parliamentary session, but obviously we’ve not made those decisions yet because we are committed to things like votes at 16, which is in our manifesto.

“And our manifesto also said that we would look at other issues to make sure that our elections in this country are fair, are robust, are free from many of the issues that are undermining our democracy at the moment, like mis- and disinformation, foreign state actors and so on, and making sure that the issues around donations are also fair and robust as well.”

Mr Farage said “the issue of money was discussed” when he held talks with Mr Musk at Mar-a-Lago, Mr Trump’s Florida resort, last week.

Writing for The Telegraph, he said the billionaire “left us in no doubt that he is right behind us” and launched “ongoing negotiations” about a financial contribution.

Richard Tice, the deputy leader of Reform, said the party would use Mr Musk’s millions to recruit an army of young voters ahead of the next election.

He said on Thursday: “Young people are very energised about what we’re doing and we’ve got to make sure they’re on the electoral roll.

“That’s something Musk did brilliantly. It takes skill, expertise and money and that’s a big opportunity.

“If we get lots of young people who may not have voted at all and who are voting Reform you’ll see us potentially leading the polls.”

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