UK review urges cap on overseas political donations and pause on crypto
The Straits Times
LONDON, March 25 - Britain should cap how much donors who are living overseas can give to political parties and pause cryptocurrency donations, an independent review said on Wednesday, a move that could hurt Nigel Farage's populist Reform UK party. Read more at straitstimes.com.
LONDON, March 25 - Britain should cap how much donors who are living overseas can give to political parties and pause cryptocurrency donations, an independent review said on Wednesday, a move that could hurt Nigel Farage's populist Reform UK party.
The government ordered the review into foreign financial interference in politics after a former politician in Reform UK was jailed last year for taking bribes to make pro-Russia speeches and statements.
Last year, Reform became the first British party to announce it would accept donations in the form of bitcoin and at least two-thirds of the total money the party raised came from donors who live abroad.
Led by Farage, a veteran Brexit campaigner and friend of U.S. President Donald Trump, Reform is leading the governing Labour Party in opinion polls and raised more money than its rivals last year.
The review by Philip Rycroft, a former senior government official, recommended capping donations by Britons living abroad to parties at between 100,000 and 300,000 pounds ($402,390) each year, and a moratorium on crypto donations until a system to regulate them effectively is established.
"The threat of foreign financial interference in our politics is real, persistent and sustained," Rycroft said, adding that the impact on Britain's democracy was contained but the risks would not abate.
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LONDON, March 25 - Britain should cap how much donors who are living overseas can give to political parties and pause cryptocurrency donations, an independent review said on Wednesday, a move that could hurt Nigel Farage's populist Reform UK party. Read more at straitstimes.com.
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