In February 2026 the government published its Representation of the People Bill which introduces mandatory ‘know your donor’ checks for political parties and aims to close the loopholes that leave UK elections exposed to illicit and foreign money.
We have been advocating for UK political parties to take dirty money in political finance seriously since 2023, including calling for parties to undertake proper ‘know your donor’ (KYD) checks on the sources of donations. So we were delighted to see this finally make it into legislation, having pushed (and failed despite two House of Lords defeats for the then government on this) for this it be included in the National Security Act 2023.
Since the Bill was published, we have worked to strengthen it at every stage. We published research on the independence of the Electoral Commission, the risks of cryptocurrency donations and the enforcement of political finance law which set out the evidence for reform. We gave evidence to the Joint Committee on the National Security Strategy (JCNSS), the Public Bill Committee and the Housing, Communities and Local Government Committee, and to the Rycroft review.
Many of our recommendations have been accepted by the government, including a ban on cryptocurrency donations, the restoration of the independence of the Electoral Commission – a central recommendation of our Democracy in Danger report, and stronger investigative and information-sharing powers for the Electoral Commission, as we called for in our Credible Deterrence report.
The influential Rycroft Review and the JCNSS also picked up our evidence and recommendations on tackling the criminal enforcement gap pushing for ensuring a robust declaration by donors to provide the basis for stronger enforcement, higher criminal sentences, and dedicated law enforcement expertise.
We will be working as the Bill goes through its final stages, and as the government commits to further action as part of ongoing electoral reform, to make the UK’s democratic defences against hostile foreign influence and undue interests as robust as possible.
