It’s time for a cap on donations: Will Steve Reed and the Government act?

Shaun Roberts, Director of Campaigns, Unlock Democracy

Big money donations to political parties are doing huge damage to trust in our politics. 

And when a politician claims that the donor expects nothing back for their millions, it simply doesn’t pass the sniff test for the average voter. When Unlock Democracy polled the British public on this last month, fewer than 1 in 14 voters believed the donor didn’t expect anything in return.

Despite Labour’s election promises to clean up politics, the Government is refusing to implement a cap on political donations from individuals and companies in the UK. 

While it might be Reform UK’s mega donors grabbing the headlines right now, all of the major British parties, with the exception of the Green Party, have benefited from multi-million pound donations.

In the first quarter of 2026, three individuals gave over £8 million. Those three people were responsible for £2 out of every £5 received by political parties. 

To the public it looks like our politics is for sale and that the interests of ordinary voters come in a poor second place.

Which brings us to Steve Reed, the Minister in charge of the Representation of the People’s Bill. Amendments calling for the implementation of a cap on donations have been submitted, but the Government seems likely to whip Labour MPs into voting them down. 

We wonder what the voters will make of that? 

Steve Reed himself has said some interesting things on this subject. The Government has at least accepted the need for a cap on donations from overseas voters following the recommendations of the Rycroft Review into foreign interference in our politics. 

Steve Reed described the overseas donations cap of £100,000 as ‘pretty generous’. He went on to point out that Rycroft had said that UK voters living overseas shouldn’t be allowed to make ‘game-changing donations into British politics’.

Which then begs the question – why should anyone be allowed to make game-changing donations to British politics?

That’s something Steve Reed is yet to answer.

The Government’s donation cap on overseas voters has already been exposed as hopelessly ineffective – one billionaire Reform UK donor who lives overseas has already said he’ll move back to the country so he can keep on giving to Reform UK.

It’s not even clear if the Government’s new rules on company donations will prevent Elon Musk from making the kind of mega-donation that’s been threatened in the past. 

The only solution to this is a cap on all political donations. 

There is overwhelming public support for this and very little public opposition. YouGov polling in December showed that barely 1 in 8 voters support the current system of allowing unlimited donations to political parties. 

Yet that’s where Steve Reed and the Government currently stand. 

We hope he and they will think again. 

The lack of trust in our politics is corrosive. Capping donations is a concrete measure that will show the public that things are changing. 

Politics should not be for sale – let’s get big money donations out of our politics once and for all.