Credible Deterrence: beefing up enforcement of the UK’s political finance rules

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 a question of capacity and capability.”

As the Representation of the People Bill is introduced to Parliament, this briefing assesses whether the UK’s electoral regulator has the capacity and capability to enforce new political finance rules, and whether the criminal backstop for breaches of these rules is fit for purpose.

Enforcement is critical to creating credible deterrence. An Electoral Commission without sufficient investigative and fining powers or resourcing is ultimately going to struggle to achieve that deterrence. This is particularly important as the Commission faces an increased workload and the task of regulating political finance rules in a context of heightened risks including from foreign interference.

Our briefing finds that the UK’s resourcing for political finance regulation is significantly lower than comparable jurisdictions and that despite improvements in the new Bill, the Commission still lacks crucial investigative and information sharing powers.

We also find that a criminal enforcement gap has emerged due to weak laws, low sentences, and lack of law enforcement capacity.

There is still time for these weaknesses to be addressed if the government and Parliament act decisively. That means:

• A thorough review of the funding the Electoral Commission needs to enforce the rules robustly
• Amendments to the Representation of the People Bill to beef up Electoral Commission powers, introduce a more robust criminal backstop offence and longer sentences and
• Ensuring the Electoral Commission has the confidence to enforce the new rules going forward.