Summary

  • Reform's deputy leader Richard Tice says the government wants to "retrospectively change rules" after his party received £72m in donations

  • This weekend, the party announced £36m donations from Christopher Harborne and Ben Delo, who are British and have lived in Thailand and Hong Kong respectively

  • The £72m is more than all UK political parties received last year, which was just over £69m

  • The government is seeking to change the law on donations to political parties from British expats, including a £100,000 cap backdated to 25 March

  • The House of Lords will debate changes to the law later today

  • Reform says the donations would still be legal, even if the law changes - and Tice tells the BBC the government is "scared" of competition

Live Reporting

Edited by Owen Amos and Angus Thompson

  1. Reform deputy says he has not spoken to donors about crypto policies

    Richard Tice sits in a navy suit and sits in front of a dark background.Reuters

    Richard Tice says he has spoken to neither Ben Delo nor Christopher Harborne about Reform UK's policy on cryptocurrency regulation.

    Nigel Farage and Tice met with the Bank of England last year after the party leader accused it of "turning their back" on cryptocurrencies.

    Reform also pledged to make the UK a "premier hub" for cryptocurrency innovation through a pilot scheme in which designated financial institutions would be exempted from some crypto rules.

    Tice tells Radio 4's Today programme he has "no idea" if Nigel Farage has spoken to either of the donors on the topic, adding: "I'm not his executive assistant responsible for every single conversation he has."

    The deputy leader of Reform was asked whether Harborne, a significant shareholder of crypto firm Tether, would gain money if the party could convince the Bank to change its policy on crypto.

    Tice responded by saying the meeting with the Bank was all "above board".

  2. Tice pressed on when donors moved to UK

    Reform UK deputy leader Richard Tice is pressed on Radio 4's Today programme about when Ben Delo and Christopher Harborne moved to the UK.

    Asked specifically about when Harborne returned, Tice replies: "I'm not familiar of every day of every week that these individuals spend in the country."

    Tice says he knows Harborne has complied with both existing donation laws and the government's proposed legislation.

    Regarding Delo, Tice says he believes the billionaire moved back to the UK "many many months ago".

    Reform say they are confident proposed law changes around overseas donations will not affect the contributions by both men.

  3. New rules would apply to retrospective donations, says former civil servant

    Sir Philip Rycroft sits wearing a light blue shirt in a living room. A bookcase is visible behind him

    The former civil servant who recommended the new cap on party donations says he did so to stop people who chose to take their wealth abroad making "potentially game-changing donations into British politics".

    Sir Philip Rycroft says the rules would limit donations from British voters living abroad to £100,000 and would retrospectively apply to donations going back to 25 March this year, when his review was published.

    He also says it's his "understanding" that people would have to have been living in the UK for at least a full calendar year - i.e. from at least 25 March 2025 - to be considered a domestic donor (we're looking into the detail of the proposed law and will have more on that soon).

    As said by our chief political correspondent Henry Zeffman, we do not know exactly when Ben Delo and Christopher Harborne, the individuals behind Reform UK's £72m in donations, moved back to the UK.

    Earlier this morning the deputy leader of Reform UK Richard Tice told BBC Breakfast he could not say the specific date that Delo moved back to the UK from Hong Kong - but said "everything's been done completely within the rules".

  4. Who gave Reform the combined £72m?

    Christopher HarborneGeorge Cracknell Wright

    Christopher Harborne wrote in the Telegraph on Saturday that Reform was a "start-up party" that lacked "the benefit of hundreds of years of patronage"

    Cryptocurrency billionaires Ben Delo and Christopher Harborne each gave £36m to the party over two days last week.

    The pair, who are British and have spent time living overseas, now share the record for the largest ever donation given to a UK political party.

    Both men had already donated millions of pounds to Reform ahead of the announcement of their latest contributions.

    Harborne wrote in the Telegraphon Saturday that Reform was a "start-up party" that lacked "the benefit of hundreds of years of patronage". Delo had written in the newspaper the day before that he wanted to enable Reform to put up a "fair fight" at the next election.

    The Times reported in June that Harborne, who has been based in Thailand, had registered to vote in the UK, while Delo had told the Telegraph in April that he was moving back from Hong Kong.

  5. Analysis

    Could Reform have to hand back its £72m?

    Henry Zeffman
    Chief political correspondent

    The House of Lords was already going to be debating issues relating to political party donations today, but that debate now takes on an extra resonance, to say the least, because of the mega-donations to Reform UK from Ben Delo and Christopher Harborne.

    One of the provisions in the law being debated today is a cap of £100,000 a year on donations from Britons living overseas, with that cap remaining in place for a year if somebody then returns to live in Britain.

    If the law passes, those requirements will be backdated to 25 March.

    Reform UK are confident that it will not affect the £72m meaning both Delo and Harborne – who had been living in Hong Kong and Thailand respectively – must have returned to the UK by 25 March. We do not know exactly when.

    However, there are some within the Labour Party who want the government to now go further as this legislation makes its way through the House of Lords - potentially meaning that Reform UK might ultimately have to hand back this money.

  6. Government 'terrified' of Reform - Tice

    Richard Tice sits in navy suit in front of a backdrop of the Reform UK logo repeated.

    Richard Tice tells BBC Breakfast the government is trying to protect itself from "a bit of competition" by changing the law around who can donate to political parties.

    The deputy leader of Reform UK says he believes the party has done everything "completely in accordance" with the law.

    He added it would show how "terrified" the government was of his party "if they completely change the way that we understand things are done in the United Kingdom and that they retrospectively introduce legislation in order to significantly disadvantage another political party that's merely trying to get on a level playing field".

    He says the two donors behind the £72m Reform received are "very successful entrepreneurs" who are trying to "save the country from going bust".

    "[The government is] trying to literally change the rules to suit their own narrative any day of the week at the drop of a hat and that's not the fair way, it's not the British way," he says.

  7. Reform's Tice says government trying to 'retrospectively change rules' ahead of donations debate

    Ben Delo in front of blackboardBen Delo Foundation

    Last year, Ben Delo was given an unconditional pardon by Donald Trump over a breach of anti-money laundering laws at his crypto trading platform, BitMex, to which he had pleaded guilty in 2022

    Reform UK's Deputy Leader Richard Tice says the government is trying to "retrospectively change the rules" on political donations ahead of a debate later today in the House of Lords.

    This weekend, the party announced £72m in donations from two billionaires in 24 hours, days before a bill that could introduce a £100,000 cap on donations from British voters living abroad returns to Parliament.

    The huge donations, worth £36m each, came from Ben Delo and Christopher Harborne, who are both British and have spent time living overseas.

    "Everything has been done completely within the rules," Tice tells BBC Breakfast.

    Speaking to the BBC on Sunday, Housing Secretary Angela Rayner said the rule changes would apply retrospectively and anyone not complying with them would have "to return that money".

    We'll have more from Tice, and reaction from elsewhere, shortly.