Whether you call it Londongrad or the London Laundromat, there’s no doubt that the UK has a serious problem with dirty money in politics. It undermines the integrity of our elections and therefore our democracy – a problem that is exacerbated by weak rules around donations to political parties. These issues can and must be dealt with if we’re to drive dirty money out of UK politics.
Spotlight has researched and developed a model “know your donor” policy that political parties could straightforwardly implement. And we continue to recommend additional important measures to secure the integrity of the UK’s democratic processes.
The first Ethics and Integrity Commission’s (EIC) annual letter to the Prime Minister is out and it provides a really welcome annual health check up on the UK’s standards framework. The letter warns that ‘progress is at risk of stalling’ without personal leadership from the PM to accelerate standards reform.
The government has proposed an amendment to the Representation of the People Bill, that would totally ban cryptocurrency political donations. But does the text of the amendment actually go far enough to truly stop cryptocurrency funding leaking into our political finance system?
The submission calls for a robust ban on cryptocurrency donations which covers contributions to individual politicians as well as political parties and the emerging risks linked to politically affiliated memecoins.
The UK's ban on political crypto donations is a powerful first step to closing down some of the routes that malign overseas and domestic actors could use to influence our politics. But a nuanced approach to implementing it will be important.
Our analysis looks at the good bits in the Rycroft Review and where it didn’t go far enough.
In February 2026, the Director-General of the NCA told a Parliamentary inquiry: “there is no point legislating for something unless you are going to enforce it as well. That is...
In response to the publication of the Rycroft Review, Dr Susan Hawley, Executive Director of Spotlight on Corruption said: “The publication of the Rycroft review should be a line in...
Responding to the publication of the Political Finance report, published today by the Joint Committee on the National Security Strategy, Executive Director of Spotlight on Corruption, Dr Susan Hawley, said:...
