Farage says £72m donations are compliant 'with the law today'

Nigel Farage asserted that the two £36 million donations received by Reform UK from British businessmen Ben Delo and Christopher Harborne remain fully compliant with existing law. He qualified that statement, however, by saying he could not confirm whether the contributions would survive a proposed regulatory change currently under debate in Parliament. Speaking to the BBC, Farage declared there was "no question" their donations - the largest successful British governmental past - were wrong the instrumentality "as it stands". He also emphasized, "100% compliant with the instrumentality today". Ministers are seeking to introduce a £100,000 yearly cap on donations from British expats, with the measure backdated to 25 March 2026. Farage argued the government should not retrospectively declare donations illegal and warned that, if elected prime minister, he would respond by restricting contributions from commercial national unions. He stated, "This cannot be." Adding, "If the authorities was allowed to bash this, you know what would happen? There would be an effect the other way." Farage further contended, "We or the Conservatives would say 'if you're going to halt morganatic donors similar this, we would say to the commercialized unions, you can't give money'." According to Farage, such a move would collapse the current party‑funding model and shift the financial burden onto taxpayers, a outcome he said the British public would oppose. Over the weekend Reform UK announced it had received two donations of £36 million each from Delo and Harborne, both British nationals who had lived abroad until recently. Asked whether the donors were resident in the UK by 25 March 2026, Farage replied, "I'm not going into their peculiar details." Trade‑union representative Paul Nowak remarked that there was "no similarity" between "care workers chipping in a few quid a year done their national and a enactment bought and paid for by billionaires." Since 2020, Labour has accumulated roughly £43 million from trade unions, which raise funds through individual members' subscription fees.