Parliamentary briefing: Representation of the People Bill – amendments on donation caps

New Clause 74 (Secretary Steve Reed) would introduce a cap on overseas contributors of £100,000 per year; a new residency status test for overseas electors returning to the UK; new declaration requirements; and requirements to return donations that exceed the cap.

New Schedules 3 and 4 (Secretary Steve Reed) would make retrospective provision for the overseas electors’ cap on donations and other regulated transactions made between the pre-commencement date, 26 March 2026 and the commencement date of the Bill. 

We have also produced a separate briefing on these amendments. 

New Clause 21 (Manuela Perteghella MP) would establish an annual donation cap on donations to political parties. It would require the Secretary of State to specify in regulations the level of the cap within three months of the Act passing following an independent review of the level of the cap.  

New Clause 69 (Alex Sobel MP) would establish an annual cap of £1,000,000 on donations to registered political parties and non-party campaigners, candidates, regulated donees and unincorporated associations. It would introduce related offences for exceeding the cap. There would be an exemption for the affiliation fees members pay to their trade unions which the unions pass onto the Labour Party.  

New Clause 71 (Stella Creasy MP) would establish an annual donation cap of £100,000 on donations to registered parties and non-party campaigners, referendum campaigners and other regulated donees. There would be exemptions for trade union affiliation fees and co-operative and community benefit subscription fees that are paid to political parties.  

New Clause 80 (Richard Quigley MP) would establish an annual cap of £250,000 on donations to registered political parties and non-party campaigners, candidates, regulated donees and unincorporated associations. It would introduce related offences for exceeding the cap. There would be an exemption for trade union affiliation fees.

New Clause 88 (Lisa Smart MP) would require the Secretary of State to publish, within three months of the Act passing, proposals for a Royal Commission to consider the merits of a cap on political donations and the effectiveness of existing campaign expenditure limits. Any proposals should specify that the Royal Commission should publish its recommendations on a cap within twelve months of being established.

New Clause 111 (Iqbal Mohamed MP) would introduce a cap of £5,000 per year on donations from individuals to political parties and candidates. 

• Introducing a donation cap would represent a significant change to the UK’s political finance framework. Political parties and campaigners need money to develop policies and communicate with voters.
• However, donation caps could help to address current public concerns about the funding of political parties and campaigners and could improve current low levels of trust and confidence in political finance transparency and regulation.  
• An annual cap on the amount each permissible donor can give could have a significant impact on the income of some political parties and other campaigners. However, it should be possible to set a cap at a level that would not disproportionately affect a small number of parties.
• Any proposal for an overall cap on donations should be informed by meaningful consultation with political parties and other stakeholders, including the wider public, to ensure public confidence and trust. This will help ensure any controls on donations avoid restricting legitimate political activity which is essential to fair elections.
• A cap would need to be carefully planned, workable and enforceable, with appropriate protections in place against evasion and avoidance.

• There is public concern about the size of donations to political parties, and a perception among some voters that large donations may buy either influence over policy or access to decision-makers.
• There is currently no limit on the amount that individuals and organisations can give to registered UK political parties, candidates, third party campaigners, elected office holders or other regulated donees. However, the Commission ensures transparency for voters by publishing information about the donations that parties and campaigners receive above the reporting thresholds.  
• The UK is not alone in allowing political donations of unlimited value. However, many countries have introduced donation caps, including Ireland, Canada, France and Italy. Australia has legislated for a donation cap, which will be in force from 1 January 2027.  
• Following the recent independent review into countering foreign financial influence and interference in UK politics conducted by Philip Rycroft (the Rycroft Review), the UK Government announced its intention to amend the Bill to introduce an annual cap of £100,000 on donations from overseas electors. This would apply retrospectively from 25 March 2026. Individuals returning to the UK from overseas would now also be subject to this cap for at least a full calendar year. Once this legislation comes into force, this would be the first time that limits have been placed on individual donations in UK politics.  
• The Rycroft Review also recommended that no company or limited liability partnership (LLP) should be able to donate more than their post-tax profits (rather than revenue) in any given year.  
• The Government has accepted this recommendation and tabled an amendment to the Bill to prevent corporate donors from donating more than their post-tax profits assessed over the previous five years. Previously, the Bill required corporate donors to have generated sufficient revenue (rather than profits) in the UK to fund their donation. This will help ensure that voters can have confidence that companies are only able to influence the political process in a way that is directly tied to their economic value in the UK, and one which reflects their true financial capacity.
• Certain amendments referenced in this briefing go further than the Rycroft Review. They would potentially apply an annual donation cap to all types of donor, not just overseas electors, individuals returning to the UK from overseas, companies and LLPs.

Donation caps could help to address current public concerns about the funding of political parties and campaigners and could improve levels of trust and confidence.

Concerns about the funding of parties and campaigners

• Our deliberative research conducted this year shows that voters and attainers are concerned about how political parties and campaigners are currently funded:
• Undue influence from wealthy individuals, businesses and corporations, and foreign actors: Voters were concerned that large donations and the lack of a cap allow wealthy individuals to buy access to and influence over political parties and outcomes that serve donors’ interests rather than voters.  
• A lack of fairness and inherent bias towards larger parties: Voters wanted a “level playing field” that enables parties of all sizes to compete on the strength of their ideas, rather than based on access to wealth and greater levels of election spending.
• A lack of transparency and accountability: Voters wanted penalties severe enough to outweigh the potential benefits of breaking the rules. They also wanted more clarity around the sources, reasons, traceability and influence of donations to political parties.

Public views on donation caps

• Our research from March 2025 found that around 51% of respondents supported a cap at some level. A December 2025 Survation poll for the campaign group 38 Degrees found that 57% supported a donation cap, while seven per cent were against it. YouGov’s biannual tracker from December 2025 found 67% supported a cap of £50k or less, or no private donations at all.  
• Our deliberative research from 2026 also demonstrated strong support among participants for the introduction of donation caps. However, participants were sceptical that donation caps alone would be sufficient, suggesting that potential loopholes and workarounds would need to be identified and closed.  
• The level of any donation cap may affect the degree to which it could have a positive impact on public trust and confidence. A cap set at a high level may have a limited impact on public confidence in the funding of parties, given public concerns about parties relying on larger donations.  

A cap on the amount each permissible donor can every year give is likely to have a significant impact on the income of some political parties and other campaigners. It should be possible to set a cap at a level that would not disproportionately affect a small number of parties. 

Impact on overall party income levels

Donation caps set at different levels would clearly have different impacts on political parties’ overall income. However, it is not possible to model precisely the impact of different caps on future donation patterns because a cap would alter donor behaviour and how parties decide to fund themselves.

Our analysis of donations to political parties covering the period 2020-2025 shows that a lower cap would have meant a larger reduction in reported donations. From a total of £319 million reported donations:

• A £1 million cap would have resulted in a £74 million (23%) reduction  
• A £500k cap would have resulted in a £110 million (34%) reduction
• A £100k cap would have resulted in a £181 million (57%) reduction  
• A £50k cap would have resulted in a £211 million (66%) reduction  
• A £10k cap would have resulted in a £273 million (86%) reduction  

A donation cap may have a greater impact on income levels in years before major elections because of increases in the amount of donations given to parties to fund election campaigns.  

Reported donations are not parties’ only sources of income. They also receive donations below the reporting threshold of £11,180 per year as well as membership fees, commercial income, grants of public money and other income streams.

Impact on individual political parties  

A donation cap would also be likely to affect some parties more than others, depending on the level at which it was set. For example, during the period covered by our analysis a cap of £1m would only have had an impact on Labour, the Conservative Party, Reform UK and Reclaim. A cap of £500k would have had no impact on the SNP or the Green Party.  

In general, parties that receive a greater proportion of their income from donors that make high-value donations would be more affected by a cap at any level.  

Labour and the Conservatives received the largest total donations and the highest value contributions between 2020-24 and so a cap would have had the most significant net impact on their income. However, this pattern may be changing, with an increasing number of large donations to Reform UK in 2025 and 2026.

Parties that received fewer large donations, such as the Liberal Democrats or Green Party of England and Wales, would have been less impacted by a cap than others.  

However, a donation cap should be set at a level that still enables effective political campaigning. Smaller parties may be disproportionately affected, as occasional large donations can make up a significant proportion of their funding.  

A donation cap would represent a significant change to the current system and would require careful design and planning to ensure it operates effectively for campaigners, donors and the Electoral Commission as the regulator.

Compliance

Annual donation caps may impose additional compliance requirements on donees who may need to be able to assure themselves that a donor would not be breaching a cap by donating to them. This would be in addition to the new requirement to conduct ‘Know your Donor’ checks for donations and loans worth over £11,180, as intended by Clause 58 of the Bill.  

Caps may also impose compliance requirements on donors who may need to track the total value of all their donations to campaigners to ensure they do not exceed limits and may need to provide evidence of this.

Preventing avoidance or evasion

Any donation cap should be supported by robust anti-evasion provisions to ensure that it cannot be circumvented by donors also giving to candidates or other campaigners, or through the use of intermediaries or third parties acting on behalf of the original donor.  

The Government intends to commence Section 54A of the Political Parties, Elections and Referendums Act 2000, which could reduce the risks of any cap being circumvented through intermediary or proxy donors by requiring donors to disclose if someone else has provided money or any other benefit in connection with their donation (above the value of £7,500).

It should be an offence for any donor to donate more than the amount of any cap or seek to evade the cap.