UK Government Tables a Crypto Political Donation Ban as MPs Push to Toughen It

The British government has moved to write a ban on cryptocurrency political donations into law, tabling an amendment ahead of a Commons debate next week, as Labour backbenchers press for even tougher rules amid a funding scandal around Nigel Farage’s Reform UK.

The amendment, put forward by Housing Secretary Steve Reed for the report stage of the representation of the people bill on July 14, would treat any crypto donation to a registered party as coming from “a person who is not a permissible donor”, which in effect bars it. It would harden a temporary ban the government announced in March that stopped parties taking crypto and capped donations from overseas electors at £100,000 a year.

The move follows months of scrutiny over money flowing to Reform UK, the party led by Nigel Farage, including millions of pounds from two cryptocurrency entrepreneurs, Christopher Harborne and George Cottrell, whose transactions were flagged by bankers to the National Crime Agency over concerns about their origin. Farage has denied any wrongdoing and called a byelection in his Clacton seat.

Some Labour MPs want to go further. According to the Guardian, which first reported the push, members of an all-party anti-corruption group are pressing for a permanent ban and other tightening measures, with an amendment led by Liam Byrne, the Labour chair of the Commons business and trade committee, drawing at least 20 signatures by midday Thursday. The Liberal Democrats have separately tabled an amendment requiring parties to disclose past crypto donations.

Byrne has made the case himself. In a video on X, he said £200 million had “come flooding in to build the media political complex behind populists in Britain” over the past five years, and that his amendments would “ban cryptocurrency for good”. Without action, he warned, “all kinds of dark money” could “wash up in UK politics without us really knowing where it’s coming from”.

Other changes reported by the Guardian would lower campaign spending limits and screen donations for signs of foreign interference. The bill returns to the House of Commons on July 14, when MPs will weigh the government’s amendment against the tougher proposals.

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